Fundamental Plasma Physics of the Solar System: Warwick CFSA Rolling Grant Application

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We request support for a programme of research within three themes: (i) coronal dynamics (ii) solar wind turbulence and (iii) plasma phenomena for astrophysics. A quantitative understanding of the fundamental physical processes acting in the corona, in particular processes responsible for the energy release in flares, heating the corona and accelerating the solar wind, is essential not only to the physics of the Sun and its connection to the Earth's environment, but it also enhances our knowledge of astrophysical plasmas processes in general. For instance, the corona is a laboratory for studying magnetic reconnection in three dimensions. Coronal MHD waves are of direct relevance to much of the dynamics such as solar flares and eruptions; coronal waves are capable of transferring energy and mechanical momentum from the convection zone into the corona and heliosphere and are associated with the development of plasma instabilities. The solar wind, with magnetic Reynolds number estimated as ~ 10^5 is in principle an MHD turbulence laboratory so that quantifying its fluctuations has direct implications for our understanding of MHD turbulence; it is also highly relevant to our understanding of coronal heating (of which we see a remnant signature in the solar wind), of the propagation of cosmic rays in the heliosphere, and magnetospheric dynamics for which the solar wind is the driver. Particle acceleration by collisionless shocks, and the physics of warm dense matter, are at two extreme boundaries of our knowledge of plasma physics relevant to astrophysics. A quantitative understanding of these processes, closely coupled to observations, can again be seen as either the means to understanding observed phenomena, namely cosmic rays, and the structure of gas giants, or as using the observed phenomena as a strong drive to understanding new fundamental plasma physics.