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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PublicationThe Transfer of Resonance Line Polarization with Partial Frequency Redistribution in the General Hanle–Zeeman RegimeThe spectral line polarization encodes a wealth of information about the thermal and magnetic properties of the solar atmosphere. Modeling the Stokes profiles...
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PublicationThe Wave-Front Correction System for the Sunrise Balloon-Borne Solar ObservatoryThis paper describes the wave-front correction system developed for the Sunrise balloon telescope, and it provides information about its in-flight performance...
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PublicationThe WEBT campaign on the BL Lac object PG 1553+113 in 2013. An analysis of the enigmatic synchrotron emissionA multifrequency campaign on the BL Lac object PG 1553+113 was organized by the Whole Earth Blazar Telescope (WEBT) in 2013 April-August, involving 19 optical...
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ProjectThe Whole Sun Project: Untangling the complex physical mechanisms behind our eruptive star and its twinsThe Sun is a magnetically active star with violent eruptions that can hit Earth´s magnetosphere and cause important perturbations in our technology-dependent...
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GrantThe whole sun project: untangling the complex physical mechanisms behind our eruptive star and its twins: "Whole sun"The Sun is a magnetically active star with violent eruptions that can hit Earth´s magnetosphere and cause important perturbations in our technology-dependent...
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PublicationTheoretical formulation of Doppler redistribution in scattering polarization within the framework of the velocity-space density matrix formalismWithin the framework of the density matrix theory for the generation and transfer of polarized radiation, velocity density matrix correlations represent an...
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PublicationTheoretical Modeling of Propagation of Magnetoacoustic Waves in Magnetic Regions Below SunspotsWe use two-dimensional numerical simulations and eikonal approximation to study properties of magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) waves traveling below the solar surface...
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PublicationThermodynamic fluctuations in solar photospheric three-dimensional convection simulations and observationsContext. Numerical three-dimensional (3D) radiative (magneto-)hydrodynamical [(M)HD] simulations of solar convection are nowadays used to understand the...
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PublicationThree-dimensional magnetic field structure of a flux-emerging region in the solar atmosphereWe analyze high-resolution spectropolarimetric observations of a flux-emerging region (FER) in order to understand its magnetic and kinematic structure. Our...