Translational Tomography with the Wide-field Imager for Parker Solar Probe (WISPR). I. Theoretical Basis and Initial Modeling

Abstract

Abstract In the first of a planned sequence of articles, we present a simple method for reconstructing radial density structures of the solar corona in the vicinity of the Parker Solar Probe (PSP) near and during perihelion passes. We describe how we model the apparent kinematics of stationary K-corona striae from the PSP Wide-field Imager for Parker Solar Probe (WISPR) viewpoint using a simple two-parameter model, form a partial basis of the data space that is a WISPR image sequence, and change the basis from image coordinates to “tomographic coordinates” in order to determine the parameters of such features. We apply the method to a simple three-dimensional model of a WISPR coronal flythrough, demonstrate the ways that it succeeds and fails, and discuss possible improvements to the sensitivity and applicability of the method for real WISPR data.