Solar/Space Physics

What is solar and space physics?

Solar and space physics is the study of physical processes on the Sun and in the heliosphere. The basic physics underlying sunspots, solar flares, coherent solar radio emissions and the generation and structure of the Sun's magnetic field remain poorly understood.

Current research areas

Solar Flares
Solar flares are dynamic events in which magnetic energy is released in the solar corona. Recent work on flares includes the construction of a model for flares in terms of reconnection between current-carrying magnetic flux tubes, analysis and modelling of various aspects of flare statistics, and investigation of different methods for calculating magnetic field configurations associated with flares.
For more information contact Mike Wheatland or Don Melrose from the Theoretical Physics group.

Solar Radio Emissions
Coherent solar radio emissions are associated with flares and coronal mass ejections (CMEs). The Space and Solar Physics Group is studying the burstiness of the radio emission in terms of stochastic growth theory and is developing quantitative theories for radio emission associated with CME-driven shocks (including electron acceleration by the shock and the plasma physics of the emission processes). One current focus is the development of dynamic spectra and other theoretical predictions for comparison with observations, including those for the upcoming STEREO spacecraft and LOFAR telescope.
For more information contact Iver Cairns