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 Impact of Limited Time Resolution on the Forward-scattering Polarization in the Solar Sr I 4607 Å LineTheoretical investigations predicted that high spatiotemporal resolution observations in the Sr I 4607 Å line must show a conspicuous scattering polarization...
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PublicationThe Impact of Quantum Interference between Different J-levels on Scattering Polarization in Spectral LinesThe spectral line polarization produced by optically pumped atoms contains a wealth of information on the thermal and magnetic structure of a variety of...
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PublicationThe impact of surface dynamo magnetic fields on the chemical abundance determinationThe solar abundances of Fe and of the CNO elements play an important role in addressing a number of important issues such as the formation, structure, and...
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PublicationThe impact of surface dynamo magnetic fields on the solar iron abundanceMost chemical abundance determinations ignore that the solar photosphere is significantly magnetized by the ubiquitous presence of a small-scale magnetic field...
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PublicationThe Influence of Coronal EUV Irradiance on the Emission in the He I 10830 Å and D3 MultipletsTwo of the most attractive spectral windows for spectropolarimetric investigations of the physical properties of the plasma structures in the solar chromosphere...
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PublicationThe influence of thermal pressure gradients and ionization (im)balance on the ambipolar diffusion and charge-neutral driftsSolar partially ionized plasma is frequently modelled using single-fluid (1F) or two-fluid (2F) approaches. In the 1F case, charge-neutral interactions are...
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PublicationThe Infrared Nuclear Emission of Seyfert Galaxies on Parsec Scales: Testing the Clumpy Torus ModelsWe present subarcsecond resolution mid-infrared (mid-IR) photometry in the wavelength range from 8 to 20 μm of 18 Seyfert galaxies, reporting high spatial...
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PublicationThe KIS Science Data Centre: Concept, Data, Data Access, and Analysis ToolsWith the steady improvement of the observing capabilities and numerical simulations, an efficient data management of large data volumes has become mandatory...
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PublicationThe Lyα Lines of H I and He II: A Differential Hanle Effect for Exploring the Magnetism of the Solar Transition RegionThe Lyα line of He II at 304 Å is one of the spectral lines of choice for EUV channels of narrowband imagers on board space telescopes, which provide...