Revolutionizing Our Understanding of Particle Energization in Space Plasmas Using On-Board Wave-Particle Correlator Instrumentation

A leap forward in our understanding of particle energization plasmas throughout the heliosphere is essential to answer longstanding questions heliophysics, including heating solar corona, acceleration wind, and particles that lead observable phenomena, such as Earth’s aurora. The low densities high temperatures typical heliospheric environments weakly collisional plasma conditions. Under these conditions, occurs primarily through collisionless interactions between electromagnetic fields individual with energies characteristic a particular interaction. To understand how impacts macroscopic evolution heliosphere, impacting phenomena extreme space weather, it critical wave-particle on ion electron kinetic timescales. Such requires high-cadence measurements both three-dimensional velocity distributions. Although existing instrument technology enables measurements, major challenge maximize scientific return from limited amount data can be transmitted ground due telemetry constraints. valuable, but underutilized, approach overcome this limitation compute on-board correlations maximum-cadence field improve sampling time by several orders magnitude. Here we review fundamentals innovative field-particle correlation technique, present formulation technique implemented an correlator, estimate results achieved instrumental capabilities for distribution measurements.