A Theoretical Study of the Tomographic Reconstruction of the Magnetosheath X-ray Emissions

Abstract:

Imaging has become an increasingly important tool for studying space plasma processes. In other work we have published on techniques for boundary detection and characterization in X-ray images of the the bow shock, magnetosheath, and magnetopause region near the sub-solar region. This work uses simulated X-ray images from the future Solar Wind Magnetosphere Ionosphere Link Explorer (SMILE) spacecraft. These results have all to a lesser or greater extent been based on models of the emissions. For nearly model-independent reconstruction computed tomography methods can be used. Unlike medical tomography viewing geometry is much more constrained, and the photon-counting noise is larger, which affects the reconstruction. We will present results of simulated reconstructions which demonstrated what level of accuracy can be expected in these reconstructions.