Collaborative Research: The Simpson Neutron Monitor Network

合作研究：辛普森中子监测网络

• 批准号: 2112437
• 负责人: Surujhdeo Seunarine
• 金额: $ 45.32万
• 依托单位: University of Wisconsin-River Falls
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2021-08-15 至 2024-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2112437&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Simpson; Neutron; Monitor

This three-year collaborative project is focused on building of a network of ground-based cosmic-ray monitors, called Neutron Monitors (NMs), operated by a consortium of three U.S. academic institutions, namely Universities of New Hampshire, Delaware and Wisconsin-River Falls. Invented by Prof. John Simpson in 1948, following his experience on the Manhattan Project, NMs have been used to detect and measure radiation in space, starting almost ten years before the space age. They are stationed on the ground all over the globe, providing continuous measurements of cosmic radiation for over a half century. NMs measure the trends and changes in the radiation levels in space, which is critical information for travel by astronauts to the Moon and Mars. They can also detect intense, short-term bursts of radiation from the Sun that reach the ground. All this activity is driven entirely by what the Sun is doing. NMs are robust and reliable and have assumed a new importance in recent years when used in conjunction with the international fleet of spacecraft and with neutron monitors in other countries. Now, all the NMs sponsored by the U.S. are being linked into what will be the Simpson Neutron Monitor Network, which will make it more efficient to coordinate operations and science.During this three-year collaborative project, the consortium will carry out this research, teasing new information out of these heritage instruments and providing researchers around the world with up-to-date radiation climate data. Cosmic rays entering the Earth’s atmosphere are messengers informing us about large-scale heliosphere structure, local space environment and solar activity. They have already passed through and interacted with the interplanetary magnetic field, and they carry information of its detailed structure. Some of these cosmic rays possess enough energy to reach the ground. A NM is a ground-based particle detector that records the nucleonic component in particle showers. This directly correlates with the number of high energy cosmic rays striking the Earth’s atmosphere. The analysis of these data is used to build an understanding of the Sun’s influence on the Solar System. Because of the large detector volume exploited by ground-based stations, neutron monitors remain the state-of-the-art instrumentation for measuring rigidity 1GV cosmic rays. The programmatic linking of these instruments run by the Universities of New Hampshire, Delaware and Wisconsin-River Falls will secure a continuity of quality data for the global community, as called out in the National Space Weather Plan and Congressional legislation. The data from these instruments are used by many, including, space weather predictors, industry, space scientists, homeland security and hydrologists. The NM stations span a wide range of latitudes, from the South Pole to the Arctic regions. The contributors to the NM signal include cosmic rays from the galaxy that are heavily modulated by solar activity and from the Sun itself in the form of high energy bursts of protons. The variability of these agents reveals conditions in interplanetary space, general solar activity and the fundamental processes that produce cosmic rays throughout the Universe. With today’s computing resources, we better understand how these instruments detect radiation, and the consortium will thus be able to extract new information from these workhorse devices. This will shed new light on how the distribution of cosmic rays varies with time, geography and particle energy. The consortium will study how to permanently secure the operations of the monitor network and intelligent ways of expanding the network to complement those at existing sites. The education and outreach goals of the project include a research position for a postdoc, a wide variety of opportunities and experiences for undergraduates, as well as opportunities for high school and elementary school students. The research and EPO agenda of this collaborative project supports the Strategic Goals of the AGS Division in discovery, learning, diversity, and interdisciplinary research.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

这个为期三年的合作项目的重点是建立一个基于地面的宇宙射线监视器网络，称为中子监测器（NMS），该网络由美国三家学术机构的财团，即新罕布什尔州，特拉华州和威斯康星 - 威斯康星 - 河流瀑布的财团经营。 NMS于1948年由约翰·辛普森（John Simpson）教授在1948年发明，NMS已被用来检测和测量太空的辐射，从太空年龄开始近十年开始。它们驻扎在全球各地的地面上，提供了半个多世纪以来宇宙辐射的连续测量。 NMS衡量空间辐射水平的趋势和变化，这是宇航员前往月球和火星的关键信息。他们还可以发现从太阳到达地面的强烈的短期辐射爆发。所有这些活动完全取决于太阳的所作所为。 NM与国际航天器舰队以及其他国家 /地区的中子监视器一起使用时，近年来近年来，NMS既有坚固又可靠。现在，美国赞助的所有NM都将与Simpson Neutron Monitor网络联系起来，这将使协调运营和科学更有效。在这个为期三年的协作项目中，该财团将进行这项研究，逗弄这些遗产工具的新信息，并在世界各地提供最新的辐射辐射光线气候数据。进入地球大气层的宇宙射线是使者通知我们有关大规模的地球层结构，当地太空环境和太阳能活动的信息。他们已经通过并与星际磁场进行了交互，并提供其详细结构的信息。这些宇宙射线中的一些具有足够的能量到达地面。 NM是一个基于地面的粒子检测器，可记录颗粒阵雨中的核成分。这直接与触动地球大气的高能量宇宙射线的数量有关。这些数据的分析用于建立对太阳对太阳系的影响的理解。由于地面站探索了较大的探测器体积，因此中子监测器仍然是测量刚度1GV宇宙射线的最新仪器。这些工具由新罕布什尔大学，特拉华州和威斯康星 - 河流瀑布公司运行的这些工具的编程联系将为全球社区提供质量数据的连续性，如《国家太空天气计划》和国会立法中所述。这些工具的数据被许多人使用，包括太空天气预测变量，工业，太空科学家，国土安全和水文学家。从南极到北极地区，NM电台跨越了广泛的纬度。 NM信号的贡献者包括来自星系的宇宙射线，这些射线是由太阳能活动和太阳本身以高能质子爆发的形式进行了重大调节的。这些试剂的变异性揭示了行星际空间，一般太阳活动和在整个宇宙中产生宇宙射线的基本过程中的条件。借助当今的计算资源，我们更好地了解了这些工具如何检测辐射，并且该联盟将能够从这些左旋设备中提取新信息。这将为宇宙射线的分布如何随时间，地理和粒子能量而变化。该财团将研究如何永久保护监视器网络的运营以及扩展网络以完成现有站点的操作。该项目的教育和外展目标包括在博士后的研究职位，本科生的各种机会和经验以及高中和小学生的机会。该协作项目的研究和EPO AGEDA支持AGS部门在发现，学习，多样性和跨学科研究方面的战略目标。该奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并被认为是通过基金会的知识分子优点和更广泛的审查标准来评估通过评估来获得支持的。