The Solar Corona


Book Description

Second edition graduate level textbook giving an up-to-date treatment of our understanding of the solar corona.




The Sun as a Guide to Stellar Physics


Book Description

The Sun as a Guide to Stellar Physics illustrates the significance of the Sun in understanding stars through anexamination of the discoveries and insights gained from solar physics research. Ranging from theories to modelingand from numerical simulations to instrumentation and data processing, the book provides an overview of whatwe currently understand and how the Sun can be a model for gaining further knowledge about stellar physics.Providing both updates on recent developments in solar physics and applications to stellar physics, this bookstrengthens the solar–stellar connection and summarizes what we know about the Sun for the stellar, space, andgeophysics communities. - Applies observations, theoretical understanding, modeling capabilities and physical processes first revealed by the sun to the study of stellar physics - Illustrates how studies of Proxima Solaris have led to progress in space science, stellar physics and related fields - Uses characteristics of solar phenomena as a guide for understanding the physics of stars




Coronal Expansion and Solar Wind


Book Description

Little more than ten years have passed since spaceprobe-borne instruments con clusively demonstrated the existence of the solar wind. These observations con firmed the basic validity of a theoretical model, first proposed by E. N. Parker, predicting a continuous, rapid expansion of the solar corona. The subsequent decade has seen a tremendous growth in both the breadth and sophistication of solar wind observations; the properties of the interplanetary plasma near the orbit of the earth are now known in great detail. The theory of the coronal ex pansion has also been highly refilled both in the sense of including additional physical processes, and of treating more realistic (time-dependent and non spheri cally-symmetric) coronal boundary conditions. The present volume is an attempt to synthesize the solar wind observations and coronal expansion models from this decade of rapid development. The ultimate goal is, of course, the interpretation of observed solar wind phenomena as the effects of basic physical processes occurring in the coronal and interplanetary plasma and as the natural manifestations of solar properties and structures. This approach implies an emphasis upon the "large-scale" features revealed by the observations. It requires extensive use of the concepts and methods of fluid mechanics.




Kappa Distributions


Book Description

Kappa Distributions: Theory and Applications in Plasmas presents the theoretical developments of kappa distributions, their applications in plasmas, and how they affect the underpinnings of our understanding of space and plasma physics, astrophysics, and statistical mechanics/thermodynamics. Separated into three major parts, the book covers theoretical methods, analytical methods in plasmas, and applications in space plasmas. The first part of the book focuses on basic aspects of the statistical theory of kappa distributions, beginning with their connection to the solid backgrounds of non-extensive statistical mechanics. The book then moves on to plasma physics, and is devoted to analytical methods related to kappa distributions on various basic plasma topics, spanning linear/nonlinear plasma waves, solitons, shockwaves, and dusty plasmas. The final part of the book deals with applications in space plasmas, focusing on applications of theoretical and analytical developments in space plasmas from the heliosphere and beyond, in other astrophysical plasmas. Kappa Distributions is ideal for space, plasma, and statistical physicists; geophysicists, especially of the upper atmosphere; Earth and planetary scientists; and astrophysicists. - Answers important questions, such as how plasma waves are affected by kappa distributions and how solar wind, magnetospheres, and other geophysical, space, and astrophysical plasmas can be modeled using kappa distributions - Presents the features of kappa distributions in the context of plasmas, including how kappa indices, temperatures, and densities vary among the species populations in different plasmas - Provides readers with the information they need to decide which specific formula of kappa distribution should be used for a certain occasion and system (toolbox)




Machine Learning Techniques for Space Weather


Book Description

Machine Learning Techniques for Space Weather provides a thorough and accessible presentation of machine learning techniques that can be employed by space weather professionals. Additionally, it presents an overview of real-world applications in space science to the machine learning community, offering a bridge between the fields. As this volume demonstrates, real advances in space weather can be gained using nontraditional approaches that take into account nonlinear and complex dynamics, including information theory, nonlinear auto-regression models, neural networks and clustering algorithms. Offering practical techniques for translating the huge amount of information hidden in data into useful knowledge that allows for better prediction, this book is a unique and important resource for space physicists, space weather professionals and computer scientists in related fields. - Collects many representative non-traditional approaches to space weather into a single volume - Covers, in an accessible way, the mathematical background that is not often explained in detail for space scientists - Includes free software in the form of simple MATLAB® scripts that allow for replication of results in the book, also familiarizing readers with algorithms




Solar-terrestrial Magnetic Activity and Space Environment


Book Description

The COSPAR Colloquium on Solar-Terrestrial Magnetic Activity and Space Environment (STMASE) was held in the National Astronomy Observatories of Chinese Academy of Sciences (NAOC) in Beijing, China in September 10-12, 2001. The meeting was focused on five areas of the solar-terrestrial magnetic activity and space environment studies, including study on solar surface magnetism; solar magnetic activity, dynamical response of the heliosphere; space weather prediction; and space environment exploration and monitoring. A hot topic of space research, CMEs, which are widely believed to be the most important phenomenon of the space environment, is discussed in many papers. Other papers show results of observational and theoretical studies toward better understanding of the complicated image of the magnetic coupling between the Sun and the Earth, although little is still known little its physical background. Space weather prediction, which is very important for a modern society expanding into out-space, is another hot topic of space research. However, a long way is still to go to predict exactly when and where a disaster will happen in the space. In that sense, there is much to do for space environment exploration and monitoring. The manuscripts submitted to this Monograph are divided into the following parts: (1) solar surface magnetism, (2) solar magnetic activity, (3) dynamical response of the heliosphere, (4) space environment exploration and monitoring; and (5) space weather prediction. Papers presented in this meeting but not submitted to this Monograph are listed by title as unpublished papers at the end of this book.




Solar and Space Physics


Book Description

In 2010, NASA and the National Science Foundation asked the National Research Council to assemble a committee of experts to develop an integrated national strategy that would guide agency investments in solar and space physics for the years 2013-2022. That strategy, the result of nearly 2 years of effort by the survey committee, which worked with more than 100 scientists and engineers on eight supporting study panels, is presented in the 2013 publication, Solar and Space Physics: A Science for a Technological Society. This booklet, designed to be accessible to a broader audience of policymakers and the interested public, summarizes the content of that report.




Plasma Loops in the Solar Corona


Book Description

A comprehensive account of the properties of plasma loops, the fundamental structural elements of the solar corona. Plasma loops cover a wide range of sizes and range in temperature from tens of thousands to millions of degrees. They not only define the structure of individual active regions but connect different active regions--even across the solar equator. Loops also play an integral and decisive role in the enormous solar explosions called flares. Over recent years a wealth of space and ground-based observations of loops has been obtained in various widely-spaced regions of the electromagnetic spectrum. In this book the authors have selected the best observational material from the literature on which to base a detailed account of the properties of flare and non-flare loops. The book also explores the larger implications of the loop structures for our understanding of solar and stellar coronae. The text is enhanced by a large number of illustrations and unique and beautiful photographs obtained from the ground and from space.




Electric Currents in Geospace and Beyond


Book Description

Electric currents are fundamental to the structure and dynamics of space plasmas, including our own near-Earth space environment, or “geospace.”This volume takes an integrated approach to the subject of electric currents by incorporating their phenomenology and physics for many regions in one volume. It covers a broad range of topics from the pioneers of electric currents in outer space, to measurement and analysis techniques, and the many types of electric currents. First volume on electric currents in space in over a decade that provides authoritative up-to-date insight on the current status of research Reviews recent advances in observations, simulation, and theory of electric currents Provides comparative overviews of electric currents in the space environments of different astronomical bodies Electric Currents in Geospace and Beyond serves as an excellent reference volume for a broad community of space scientists, astronomers, and astrophysicists who are studying space plasmas in the solar system. Read an interview with the editors to find out more: https://eos.org/editors-vox/electric-currents-in-outer-space-run-the-show




Physics of the Solar Corona


Book Description

A thorough introduction to solar physics based on recent spacecraft observations. The author introduces the solar corona and sets it in the context of basic plasma physics before moving on to discuss plasma instabilities and plasma heating processes. The latest results on coronal heating and radiation are presented. Spectacular phenomena such as solar flares and coronal mass ejections are described in detail, together with their potential effects on the Earth.