My second project, which is more recent and technical, is related to modeling solar data. The sun is very energetic: it shines down on us, has sunspots, blasts coronal mass ejections and has its own rotation period. All these things are important in understanding the impact on galactic cosmic rays. These cosmic rays come from outside our solar system and are very energetic. They are mostly protons and neutrons, the building blocks of atoms. We can measure these particles on earth when they enter our atmosphere. However, the sun’s activity can influence how many particles we measure on any given day. For example, the number of sunspots might be related to the number of particles we measure.
My research is trying to determine if there is a relationship between the total number of particles measured over an area (known as flux) and the sunspot number. This is complicated by several other physical features of the sun. The sun can change its magnetic field, and the strength of the field also impacts the particle flux. This project has gotten complicated very quickly, but it has been very rewarding to see where things are going. Although I just started this project, I have already learned a lot about plasma physics, statistics, modeling and our own sun.
