Related papers: Radiative diagnostics in the solar photosphere and…
Magnetic fields are essential ingredients of many physical processes in the interiors and envelopes of cool stars. Yet their direct detection and characterisation is notoriously difficult, requiring high-quality observations and advanced…
In recent years, the development of spectropolarimetric techniques deeply modified our knowledge of stellar magnetism. In the case of solar-type stars, the challenge is to measure a geometrically complex field and determine its evolution…
Extremely strong magnetic fields change the vacuum index of refraction. Although this polarization dependent effect is small for typical neutron stars, it is large enough to decouple the polarization states of photons traveling within the…
The Chromosphere and Prominence Magnetometer (ChroMag) is conceived with the goal of quantifying the intertwined dynamics and magnetism of the solar chromosphere and in prominences through imaging spectro-polarimetry of the full solar disk.…
Solar astrometry deals with the accurate measumerent of the solar diameter, and in general with the measurement of the shape of the Sun. During the last decades several techniques have been developed to monitor the radius and the irradiance…
Optical interferometry provides us with a unique opportunity to improve our understanding of stellar structure and evolution. Through direct observation of rotationally distorted photospheres at sub-milliarcsecond scales, we are now able to…
We describe the presence of wavefront dislocations in magnetohydrodynamic waves in stratified stellar atmospheres. Scalar dislocations such as edges and vortices can appear in Alfv\'en waves, as well as in general magneto-acoustic waves. We…
The interplanetary magnetic field near has a characteristic "sector" structure that reflects its polarity relative to the solar direction. Typically we observe large-scale coherence in these directions, with two or four "away" or "towards"…
Spectral diagnostic features formed in the solar chromosphere are few and difficult to interpret -- they are neither formed in the optically thin regime nor in local thermodynamic equilibrium (LTE). To probe the state of the chromosphere,…
We construct atmosphere models for strongly magnetized neutron stars with surface fields $B\sim 10^{12}-10^{15}$ G and effective temperatures $T_{\rm eff}\sim 10^6-10^7$ K. The atmospheres directly determine the characteristics of thermal…
The chromosphere is a dynamic and complex layer where all the relevant physical processes happen on very small spatio-temporal scales. A few spectral lines that can be used as chromospheric diagnostics give us convoluted information that is…
Magnetic fields are regarded as a crucial element for our understanding of stellar physics. They can be studied with a variety of methods which provide complementary - and sometimes contradictory - information about the structure, strength…
Here we formulate and solve the 3D radiative transfer problem of the polarization of the solar continuous radiation. Our approach takes into account not only the anisotropy of the continuum radiation, but also the symmetry-breaking effects…
We discuss a new technique of studying magnetic fields in diffuse astrophysical media, e.g. interstellar and intergalactic gas/plasma. This technique is based on the angular momentum alignment of atoms and ions in their ground or metastable…
This paper presents an overview of some recent observational and theoretical results on solar flares, with an emphasis on flare impulsive-phase chromospheric properties, including: electron diagnostics, optical and UV emission, and…
Some basic properties of the solar convection zone are considered and the use of helioseismology as an observational tool to determine its depth and internal angular velocity is discussed. Aspects of solar magnetism are described and…
The polarization state of starlight reflected by a planetary atmosphere uniquely reveals coverage, particle size, and composition of aerosols as well as changing cloud patterns. It is not possible to obtain a comparable level of detailed…
Observational studies of magnetic fields are crucial. We introduce a process "ground state alignment" as a new way to determine the magnetic field direction in diffuse medium. The alignment is due to anisotropic radiation impinging on the…
Stellar occultations and transits occur when a planetary body passes in front of a star (including our Sun). For objects with an atmosphere, refraction plays an essential role to explain the drops of flux and the aureoles observed during…
The regions in which stellar winds interact with the interstellar medium, also known as astrospheres, can be observed in detail through the thermal emission of the interstellar dust particles, resided in plasma. Interstellar dust is also…