Consolidated Grant in Solar Physics

在这个提议中，我们研究动态太阳，测量和理解等离子体，粒子和过程在其大气层和扩展日光层，它创建。我们专注于太阳物理学中几个未解决的关键问题，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。我们的顶级问题是：太阳是如何在其磁化的大气层中储存和释放能量的，通过研究从无线电到X射线的辐射，我们可以了解这个过程吗？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？磁场是太阳大气层中发生的一切的关键。集中的磁场区域穿过太阳表面进入大气层。它们在这里储存能量，并与预先存在的磁场相互作用，经常导致强烈的辐射爆发，称为耀斑，亚原子粒子（电子和离子）的加速，以及数百万度的加热。这还可能导致磁化等离子体被排入空间，从而造成破坏性的“空间天气”。耀斑具有独特的辐射特征，这与能量从日冕沿沿着磁场传输到太阳表面并进入遥远的日光层的方式密切相关，并在其过程中转换为其他形式。通过解释太阳稀薄的外层大气（日冕）和稠密的低层大气（色球层）的辐射，我们可以理解耀斑中发生了什么。更一般地说，太阳磁场在太阳大气层中创造了偏心和动态的形状，例如，被称为“对流”的凉爽物质云，显然是漂浮的。我们的方案将来自空间和地面望远镜的观测数据与理论和数值模拟相结合，以解决所有这些主题，并涵盖广泛的技术问题，从辐射穿过等离子体的建模到高能粒子加速;从电磁波到相对论粒子束;从机器学习和图像处理到微弱信号的统计分析;从数学“纸笔”计算到高级数值模拟。我们将利用所有这些技能来解决当前努力的核心问题，以更好地了解我们最近的星星。

In this proposal we study the dynamic Sun, to measure and understand the plasmas, particles and processes in its atmosphere and the extended heliosphere that it creates. We focus on several key unsolved problems in solar physics, that are also prototypes for a wider and deeper understanding of cosmic plasmas as a whole. Our top-level questions are: How does the Sun store and release energy in its magnetised atmosphere, and what can we learn about this process by studying the radiation that is emitted, from radio to X-rays? 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? The magnetic field is key to everything that happens in the Sun's atmosphere. Concentrated magnetic regions emerge through the Sun's surface and into its atmosphere. Here they store energy and also interact with the pre-existing magnetic field often resulting in intense bursts of radiation known as flares, acceleration of sub-atomic particles (electrons and ions), and heating to millions of degrees. These can also lead to expulsion of magnetised plasma into space which can cause damaging `space weather'. Flares have distinctive radiation signatures that are closely related to the way that energy is transmitted along the magnetic field from the corona down to the solar surface and out into the distant heliosphere, and converted into other forms as it goes. By interpreting this radiation both from the Sun's tenuous outer atmosphere - its corona - and its denser lower atmosphere - its chromosphere - we can understand what is happening in a flare. More generally, solar magnetic fields create eccentric and dynamic shapes in the solar atmosphere, for example the clouds of cool material called prominences, apparently floating (though in reality supported by magnetic forces) above the solar surface.Our programme combines observational data from space-based and ground-based telescopes with theoretical and numerical modelling to address all of these topics, and spans a wide range of technical problems, from the modeling of radiation moving through a plasma to high-energy particle acceleration; from electromagnetic waves to relativistic particle beams; from machine learning and image processing to statistical analysis of weak signals, and from mathematical `pen-and-paper' calculations to advanced numerical simulations. We will bring all these skills to bear on questions at the heart of current efforts to better understand our nearest star.