Rolling Programme in Solar and Plasma Astrophysics

等离子体的物理学--特别是磁化等离子体--决定了大部分可见宇宙的行为，从太阳的外层到可观测宇宙的最远处。在这个提议中，我们专注于太阳和等离子体天体物理学中几个关键的未解决问题，这些问题也是对宇宙等离子体整体进行更广泛和更深入理解的原型。这些问题是：（a）高能辐射粒子在太阳耀斑和行星际空间中的行为如何？它们是如何被加速的，它们是否被发射，它们在耀斑及其对地球的影响中是否起着关键作用？(b)太阳如何在其磁化的大气层中储存和释放能量，从表面流动到低大气层的耀斑活动？从太阳等离子体的行为中可以学到什么来帮助理解刚刚形成的热恒星或磁化恒星？(c)在脉冲星表面附近的极端环境中，等离子体是如何辐射的？我们的方案将观测数据与理论和数值模拟相结合，涵盖范围广泛的天文和技术问题，从太阳表面流到高能粒子加速和星周物质;从电磁波到相对论粒子束;从图像处理到弱信号的统计分析。我们将利用所有这些技能来解决当前努力更好地了解宇宙的核心天文问题。

The physics of plasmas - particularly magnetised plasmas - dictates the behaviour of much of the visible universe, from the outer layers of the Sun to the furthest reaches of the observable cosmos. In this proposal, we focus on several key unsolved problems in solar and plasma astrophysics that are also prototypes for a wider and deeper understanding of cosmic plasmas as a whole. These are: (a) how do high-energy radiating particles behave in solar flares and in interplanetary space? How are they accelerated, are they beamed and do they play a key role in flares and their terrestrial impact? (b) how does the Sun store and release energy in its magnetised atmosphere, from surface flows, to low atmosphere flaring activity? And what can be learned from the behaviour of solar plasmas to help understand hot stars or magnetised stars that are just forming? (c) How do pulsars radiate and how do plasmas behave in the extreme environments near a pulsar's surface? Our programme combines observational data with theoretical and numerical modelling, and spans a wide range of astronomical and technical problems, from solar surface flows to high-energy particle acceleration and circumstellar matter; from electromagnetic waves to relativistic particle beams; from image processing to statistical analysis of weak signals. We will bring all these skills to bear on astronomical questions at the heart of current efforts to better understand the universe.