Solar Physics Research Trends

This book presents the latest results on solar-stellar research and the study of solar terrestrial physics. It includes all aspects of solar physics, ranging from the internal structure of the sun and its evolution, to outer corona and solar wind in interplanetary space.

The objectives of the conference are to develop greater understanding of physics research and its applications to promote new industries; to innovate knowledge about recent breakthroughs in physics, both the fundamental and technological aspects; to implement of international cooperation in new trends in physics research and to improve the performance of the physics research facilities in Egypt. This proceedings highlights the latest results in the fields of astrophysics, atomic, molecular, condensed matter, laser, nuclear and particle physics. The peer refereed papers collected in this volume were written by international experts in these laser fields.

Modern Trends in Physics Research MTPR-08 was the third of the International Conference series held biannually by the Physics Department in Faculty of Science of Cairo University.The objectives of the conference are to develop greater understanding of physics research and its applications to promote new industries; to innovate knowledge about recent breakthroughs in physics, both the fundamental and technological aspects; to implement of international cooperation in new trends in physics research and to improve the performance of the physics research facilities in Egypt. This proceeding highlights the latest results in the fields of astrophysics, atomic, molecular, condensed matter, lasers, nuclear and particle physics. The peer refereed papers collected in this volume, were written by international experts in these fields. The keynote lecture, “Overview on the Era of the Exploration of the Planets and Planetary Systems,” delivered by Professor Jay M Pasachoff of Williams College — Hopkins Observatory was featured in the proceedings. As 2008 was the 50th anniversary of the launch of Sputnik, which began the Space Age, this volume is a unique collection of keynote, plenary and invited presentations covering fields of astrophysics, atomic physics, condensed matter physics as well as nanotechnology, molecular physics and laser physics. This volume will serve as a useful reference for scientists in modern physics and technology of the 21st century.

This book investigates and analyzes several disturbing trends in government support for space physics research over the past decade. The authors identify funding and management problems that thwart cost efficiency within this discipline, and suggest possible solutions. The volume also has broader implications for anyone engaged in research or in the funding and organizing of space physics research.

Earth-affecting solar transients encompass a broad range of phenomena, including major solar flares, CMEs, ICMEs, solar energetic particle events, and corotating interaction regions.​ In the past decade, nearly continuous observations of the Sun and the inner heliosphere with an unprecedented wide spatial coverage from a fleet of spacecraft, including STEREO Ahead/Behind, SDO, SOHO, Messenger, Venus Express, ACE and WIND, in combination with a significant advancement of global MHD numerical simulation and theoretical analysis, have greatly improved our understanding of solar transients and the prediction of their potential impact on Earth. This Topical Collection is based on the International Study of Earth-affecting Solar Transients (ISEST) project, initially launched in 2013 to bring together scientists from many countries to join efforts on studying solar transients. ISEST became one of the four research projects of the Variability of the Sun and Its Terrestrial Impact (VarSITI) program, sponsored by the Scientific Committee on Solar-Terrestrial Physics (SCOSTEP) for the period of 2014 – 2018. Originally published in the journal Solar Physics, volumes 292 (2017) and 293 (2018).

From the interior of the Sun, to the upper atmosphere and near-space environment of Earth, and outward to a region far beyond Pluto where the Sun's influence wanes, advances during the past decade in space physics and solar physics-the disciplines NASA refers to as heliophysics-have yielded spectacular insights into the phenomena that affect our home in space. Solar and Space Physics, from the National Research Council's (NRC's) Committee for a Decadal Strategy in Solar and Space Physics, is the second NRC decadal survey in heliophysics. Building on the research accomplishments realized during the past decade, the report presents a program of basic and applied research for the period 2013-2022 that will improve scientific understanding of the mechanisms that drive the Sun's activity and the fundamental physical processes underlying near-Earth plasma dynamics, determine the physical interactions of Earth's atmospheric layers in the context of the connected Sun-Earth system, and enhance greatly the capability to provide realistic and specific forecasts of Earth's space environment that will better serve the needs of society. Although the recommended program is directed primarily at NASA and the National Science Foundation for action, the report also recommends actions by other federal agencies, especially the parts of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration charged with the day-to-day (operational) forecast of space weather. In addition to the recommendations included in this summary, related recommendations are presented in this report.

This book provides the latest scientific understanding of the Sun, sharing insights gleaned from the international solar physics project Hinode. The authors (who are the main project contributors) review, from the various viewpoints, the discoveries and advances made by the on-orbit operations of the Hinode spacecraft in its first decade. Further, they present a wealth of scientifically important photographs and data from Hinode. Launched in September 2006, Hinode is the third Japanese solar observatory on orbit, and employs three highly advanced telescopes jointly developed and operated with international partners. The book describes the background of these research topics, how the Hinode telescopes have tackled various challenges, and the scientific achievements and impacts in the first 10 years. Furthermore, it explores future perspective of researches in Japan. The book will benefit undergraduate students interested in recent advance in the solar research, as well as graduate students and researchers working in solar physics, the space sciences, astronomy, and plasma physics.

This is a follow-on book to the introductory textbook "Physics of the Solar Corona" previously published in 2004 by the same author, which provided a systematic introduction and covered mostly scientific results from the pre-2000 era. Using a similar structure as the previous book the second volume provides a seamless continuation of numerous novel research results in solar physics that emerged in the new millennium (after 2000) from the new solar missions of RHESSI, STEREO, Hinode, CORONAS, and the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) during the era of 2000-2018. The new solar space missions are characterized by unprecedented high-resolution imaging, time resolution, spectral capabilities, stereoscopy and tomography, which reveal the intricate dynamics of magneto-hydrodynamic processes in the solar corona down to scales of 100 km. The enormous amount of data streaming down from SDO in Terabytes per day requires advanced automated data processing methods. The book focuses exclusively on new research results after 2000, which are reviewed in a comprehensive manner, documented by over 3600 literature references, covering theory, observations, and numerical modeling of basic physical processes that are observed in high-temperature plasmas of the Sun and other astrophysical objects, such as plasma instabilities, coronal heating, magnetic reconnection processes, coronal mass ejections, plasma waves and oscillations, or particle acceleration.

Exciting new observational and theoretical advances lead today's solar physicists to challenge many of the predictions of even recent models. This volume summarizes the major questions at the forefront of solar physics theory and observations, and proposes priority recommendations to explore these questions. The study also addresses serious institutional issues that have beset solar physics including the role of the universities in the national solar observations, structural barriers to careers in solar physics, and the leadership role of the federal funding agencies for ground-based solar research.

This book collects extended and specialized reviews on topics linking astrophysics and particle physics at a level between a graduate student and a young researcher. The book also includes three reviews on observational techniques used in forefront astrophysics and short articles on research performed in Latin America. The reviews, updated and written by specialized researchers, describe the state of the art in the related research topics.