Related papers: Reminiscences
Unexpected dynamic phenomena have surprised solar system observers in the past and have led to important discoveries about solar system workings. Observations at the initial stages of these events provide crucial information on the physical…
We explore new opportunities for solar physics that could be realized by future missions providing sustained observations from vantage points away from the Sun-Earth line. These include observations from the far side of the Sun, at high…
My brief for the IAC Winter School was to cover observational results on helioseismology, flagging where possible implications of those results for the asteroseismic study of solar-type stars. My desire to make such links meant that I…
Observations of the coronae of the Sun and of solar-like stars provide complementary information to advance our understanding of stellar magnetic activity, and of the processes leading to the heating of their outer atmospheres. While solar…
This review provides an introduction to the generation and evolution of the Sun's magnetic field, summarising both observational evidence and theoretical models. The eleven year solar cycle, which is well known from a variety of observed…
It is essential that there be coordinated and co-optimized observations in X-rays, gamma-rays, and EUV during the peak of solar cycle 26 (~2036) to significantly advance our understanding of impulsive energy release in the corona. The open…
The X-ray emission from the Sun reveals a very dynamic hot atmosphere, the corona, which is characterized by a complex morphology and broad range of timescales of variability and spatial structuring. The solar magnetic fields play a…
This writeup is a review of current hot topics on solar neutrinos. It is based on a talk at the conference "Neutrinos: the quest for a new physics scale", held at the CERN on March 2017, where the Organizers entrusted me with a discussion…
Until the last few decades, investigations of stellar interiors had been restricted to theoretical studies only constrained by observations of their global properties and external characteristics. However, in the last thirty years the field…
The Sun, as an active star, is the driver of energetic phenomena that structure interplanetary space and affect planetary atmospheres. The effects of Space Weather on Earth and the solar system is of increasing importance as human…
The Sun's outer atmosphere is heated to temperatures of millions of degrees, and solar plasma flows out into interplanetary space at supersonic speeds. This paper reviews our current understanding of these interrelated problems: coronal…
Solar neutrinos have been the subject of experimental study for almost half a century. The initial aim was '...to see into the interior of a star and thus verify directly the hypothesis of nuclear energy generation in stars'. Since then the…
The solar system has changed dramatically since its birth, and so did our understanding of it. A considerable research effort has been invested in the past decade in an attempt to reconstruct the solar system history, including the earliest…
This chapter provides an overview of the magnetic activity of the Sun and stars, discussing its underlying physical origin, manifestations, and fundamental role in exoplanet studies. It begins with a summary of the Sun's magnetic activity…
This work reviews our understanding of the magnetic fields observed in the quiet Sun. The subject has undergone a major change during the last decade (quiet revolution), and it will remain changing since the techniques of diagnostic…
The issue of predicting solar flares is one of the most fundamental in physics, addressing issues of plasma physics, high-energy physics, and modelling of complex systems. It also poses societal consequences, with our ever-increasing need…
The corona is a layer of hot plasma that surrounds the Sun, traces out its complex magnetic field, and ultimately expands into interplanetary space as the supersonic solar wind. Although much has been learned in recent decades from advances…
Determining the heating mechanism (or mechanisms) that causes the outer atmosphere of the Sun, and many other stars, to reach temperatures orders of magnitude higher than their surface temperatures has long been a key problem. For decades…
Solar flares are energetic events taking place in the Sun's atmosphere, and their effects can greatly impact the environment of the surrounding planets. In particular, eruptive flares, as opposed to confined flares, launch coronal mass…
Spectroscopic observations at extreme and far ultraviolet wavelengths have revealed systematic upflows in the solar transition region and corona. These upflows are best seen in the network structures of the quiet Sun and coronal holes,…