Although located at 150 million kilometers from Earth, the Sun is in our immediate neighborhood compared with all other stars. The observation of the Sun along the decades has provided amazingly detailed views of the structure and day-to-day life of a star; the high-resolution observations achieved from Earth and space in recent years, in particular, have facilitated reaching deep theoretical insights concerning the structure and evolution of stellar atmospheres and interiors.
The Sun constitutes a physics laboratory where the complex interactions between the matter (atoms, electrons and ions, or molecules) and the magnetic field can be studied in conditions difficult to reach in devices on Earth. Of particular interest for the public are the spectacular phenomena displayed by its atmosphere, its role in generating the magnetized clouds that, after traversing the interplanetary space, can impact on Earth's magnetosphere and lead to the potentially dangerous solar storms, and the mysteries of the solar interior. Understanding of all those phenomena is gained by a combination of refined theoretical methods and direct or indirect observation using leading-edge technologies.
The solar physics group at the IAC enjoys a leadership position in different branches of solar research in the world. This is exemplified by the award of four large research grants by the European Research Council in the past years to researchers of the group, by its leading role in the European Solar Telescope project, and by its participation in other international networks and instrument projects. Globally, the group combines theoretical methods (magneto-fluid dynamics and plasma physics, radiation transfer), including 3D numerical radiation-MHD modeling, and state-of-the-art observational and diagnostic techniques, to achieve deep understanding of what constitutes and drives the structure and activity of our star.
Solar Physics (FS)
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PublicationOn the Connection between Planets, Dark Matter and Cancer: Comment on “Planetary Dependence of Melanoma”In a recent paper, Zioutas and Valachovic (2018) claim that dark matter is responsible for a significant fraction of the melanoma skin cancer. This conclusion...
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PublicationOn the Distribution of Quiet-Sun Magnetic Fields at Different Heliocentric AnglesThis paper presents results from the analysis of high signal-to-noise ratio spectropolarimetric data taken at four heliocentric angles in quiet-Sun internetwork...
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PublicationOn the effects of ion-neutral interactions in solar plasmasSolar photosphere and chromosphere are composed of weakly ionized plasma for which collisional coupling decreases with height. This implies a breakdown of some...
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PublicationOn the Importance of the Nonequilibrium Ionization of Si IV and O IV and the Line of Sight in Solar SurgesSurges are ubiquitous cool ejections in the solar atmosphere that often appear associated with transient phenomena like UV bursts or coronal jets. Recent...
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PublicationOn the Inversion of Stokes Profiles with Local Stray-light ContaminationObtaining the magnetic properties of non-resolved structures in the solar photosphere is always challenging and problems arise because the inversion is carried...
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PublicationOn the Inversion of the Scattering Polarization and the Hanle Effect Signals in the Hydrogen Lyα LineMagnetic field measurements in the upper chromosphere and above, where the gas-to-magnetic pressure ratio β is lower than unity, are essential for understanding...
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PublicationOn the Magnetic Field of Off-limb SpiculesDetermining the magnetic field related to solar spicules is vital for developing adequate models of these plasma jets, which are thought to play a key role in...
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PublicationOn the Magnetic Nature of an Exploding Granule as Revealed by Sunrise/IMaXWe study the photospheric evolution of an exploding granule observed in the quiet Sun at high spatial (∼0"3) and temporal (31.5 s) resolution by the imaging...
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PublicationOn the Magnetic Nature of Quiet-Sun Chromospheric GrainsCa II K grains, i.e., intermittent, short-lived (about 1 minute), periodic (2-4 minutes), pointlike chromospheric brightenings, are considered to be the...