Solar and Magnetospheric Plasma Theory

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In the present Rolling Grant application the Solar and Magnetospheric Theory Group (SMTG) of the University of St Andrews asks for funding to investigate fundamental physical processes occurring in the solar atmosphere and the magnetosphere. The research topics we want to investigate using plasma theory are: i) the emergence of new magnetic flux through the solar surface into the solar atmosphere, ii) the use of MHD waves to deduce properties of the coronal plasma and magnetic field (coronal seismology), iii) the physical mechanisms which keep the corona much hotter than the lower parts of the solar atmosphere (coronal heating), iv) magnetic reconnection, a process of extreme importance for energy release of magnetised plasmas, v) solar flares and coronal mass ejections, which are the most powerful manifestations of solar magnetic activity and vi) the physics of ultra-low frequency waves in the Earth's magnetosphere and how they contribute to the acceleration of electrons causing the aurora.