Home

The interstellar medium is known to be turbulent on a wide range of spatial scales from several parsecs, to scales smaller than the size of our heliosphere.  The heliosphere itself, which is the result of the solar wind’s interaction with the interstellar medium, has variations of its own, including solar wind turbulence and massive transient disturbances than can affect the very local interstellar medium (VLISM).  Our team’s goal is to advance our understanding the physics of this mutual interaction in the context of a variety of recent observations.  These include in-situ measurements of the VLISM by Voyager 1, remote observations of energetic neutral atoms coming from the outside the solar system as seen by NASAs Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX) mission, and the anisotropy of high-energy galactic cosmic rays (GCRs) from Earth-based air shower detectors, revealing structure related to the VLISM.  In addition, there have been recent theoretical and modeling studies related to these observations.   Our team bring experts together in each of these areas to discuss how they inform us of the nature of the VLISM, and particularly of the nature of interstellar turbulence which affects the transport of high-energy charged particles, such as GCRs.