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Exploring the Outer Heliosphere Through ENA Observations from IMAP

Reisenfeld, Daniel Brett [Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)] (ORCID:0000000318749450)·Allegrini, F. [Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio, TX (United States); Univ. of Texas at San Antonio, TX (United States)]·Christian, E. R. [NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), Greenbelt, MD (United States)]·Clark, G. B. [Johns Hopkins Univ., Laurel, MD (United States)]·Dayeh, M. A. [Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio, TX (United States)]·Frisch, Priscilla [Univ. of Chicago, IL (United States)]·Funsten III, Herbert O. [Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)] (ORCID:0000000268171039)·Galli, A. [Univ. of Bern (Switzerland)]·Gkioulidou, M. [Johns Hopkins Univ., Laurel, MD (United States)]·Guo, Fan [Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)]·Huang, Y. [Univ. of Alabama, Huntsville, AL (United States)]·Janzen, Paul H. [Univ. of Montana, Missoula, MT (United States)]·Kim, Thomas Kyoung Ho [Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)] (ORCID:0000000162820803)·Livadiotis, G. I. [Princeton Univ., NJ (United States)]·Mitchell, Donald G. [Johns Hopkins Univ., Laurel, MD (United States)]·McComas, David J. [Princeton Univ., NJ (United States)]·Noh, Sung Jun [Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)] (ORCID:0000000280327833)·Rahmanifard, F. [Univ. of New Hampshire, Durham, NH (United States)]·Richardson, J. D. [Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States)]·Schwadron, Nathan A. [Univ. of New Hampshire, Durham, NH (United States)]·Sokół, Justyna M. [Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio, TX (United States)]·Swaczyna, P. [Space Research Centre, PAS (CBK PAN), Warsaw (Poland)]·Szalay, J. R. [Princeton Univ., NJ (United States)]·Turner, D. L. [Johns Hopkins Univ., Laurel, MD (United States)]·Walia, Nehpreet Kaur [Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)] (ORCID:0000000272965288)·Zank, Gary P. [Univ. of Alabama, Huntsville, AL (United States)]·Zirnstein, Eric J. [Princeton Univ., NJ (United States)]
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Abstract

The Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe (IMAP) mission is poised to revolutionize our understanding of two of the most central issues in heliophysics today: the nature of the interaction of the solar wind with the local interstellar medium (LISM), and the acceleration of energetic particles throughout the heliosphere. Here we focus on the anticipated contributions to this endeavor by measurement of hydrogen energetic neutral atoms (ENAs) that emanate from the solar wind–LISM interface region. ENA imaging allows us to remotely sense the structure and plasma characteristics of the heliosheath and the LISM just beyond the heliopause, and how these regions evolve in response to solar activity. These instruments, IMAP-Lo, IMAP-Hi, and IMAP-Ultra, cover energies from 10 eV to 300 keV with unprecedented angular resolution, energy resolution, and detection sensitivity. In this paper, we present the IMAP mission science specific to the study of the heliosphere/LISM interaction. We review what we have learned about the heliosphere interaction based on prior observations and theoretical studies. We then present the outstanding science questions that have consequently arisen and how IMAP plans to resolve them.

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BibTeXRIS

Reisenfeld, Daniel Brett [Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)] (ORCID:0000000318749450), Allegrini, F. [Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio, TX (United States); Univ. of Texas at San Antonio, TX (United States)], Christian, E. R. [NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), Greenbelt, MD (United States)], Clark, G. B. [Johns Hopkins Univ., Laurel, MD (United States)], Dayeh, M. A. [Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio, TX (United States)], Frisch, Priscilla [Univ. of Chicago, IL (United States)], Funsten III, Herbert O. [Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)] (ORCID:0000000268171039), Galli, A. [Univ. of Bern (Switzerland)], Gkioulidou, M. [Johns Hopkins Univ., Laurel, MD (United States)], Guo, Fan [Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)], Huang, Y. [Univ. of Alabama, Huntsville, AL (United States)], Janzen, Paul H. [Univ. of Montana, Missoula, MT (United States)], Kim, Thomas Kyoung Ho [Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)] (ORCID:0000000162820803), Livadiotis, G. I. [Princeton Univ., NJ (United States)], Mitchell, Donald G. [Johns Hopkins Univ., Laurel, MD (United States)], McComas, David J. [Princeton Univ., NJ (United States)], Noh, Sung Jun [Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)] (ORCID:0000000280327833), Rahmanifard, F. [Univ. of New Hampshire, Durham, NH (United States)], Richardson, J. D. [Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States)], Schwadron, Nathan A. [Univ. of New Hampshire, Durham, NH (United States)], Sokół, Justyna M. [Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio, TX (United States)], Swaczyna, P. [Space Research Centre, PAS (CBK PAN), Warsaw (Poland)], Szalay, J. R. [Princeton Univ., NJ (United States)], Turner, D. L. [Johns Hopkins Univ., Laurel, MD (United States)], Walia, Nehpreet Kaur [Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)] (ORCID:0000000272965288), Zank, Gary P. [Univ. of Alabama, Huntsville, AL (United States)], Zirnstein, Eric J. [Princeton Univ., NJ (United States)]. 2026-01-07. Exploring the Outer Heliosphere Through ENA Observations from IMAP. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11214-025-01258-3

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