Start year
1999
Organizational Unit
Organizing institutions
General
Description
Magnetic fields are at the base of star formation and stellar structure and evolution. When stars are born, magnetic fields brake the rotation during the collapse of the mollecular cloud. In the end of the life of a star, magnetic fields can play a key role in the form of the strong winds that lead to the last stages of stellar evolution. During the whole adult life of a star, magnetic fields are the origin of stellar activity. Our Sun has magnetic fields that give rise to such spectacular activity that impacts the climate on Earth. The magnetic activity in other stars is, in some cases, of orders of magnitude more intense than the solar one, influencing – often drastically – the transport of chemical species and angular momentum, as well as affecting the possible planetary systems around them.
The aim of this project is the study of the diverse manifestations of the magnetic field that can be observed in the solar atmosphere and in other stars. These include distinct structures as sunspots, weak quiet-sun fields or chromospheric and coronal features such as filaments and prominences. The following research topics have been gradually faced:
Solar magnetism
1. Structure and evolution of Sunspot magnetic fields.
2. Structure and evolution of quiet Sun magnetic fields.
3. Structure and evolution of the magnetism of the chromosphere and of chromospheric strcutures (promiences, spicules,...)
4. Structure and evolution or coronal loops.
5. Structure and evolution of the Sun's global field. Studies of the activity cycle.
6. Empirical study of propagation of magnetohydrodynamic waves in magnetic structures.
7. Empirical study of energy transfer mechanisms related with the heating of the external atmospheric layers.
8. Empirical study of the influence of partial ionisation in the dynamics of the solar atmosphere.
9. Participation in the European Solar Telescope project.
Stellar magnetism
1. Development of numerical tools to diagnose stellar magnetic fields, both in the surface and in the chromsphere.
2. Study of magnetic fields in stellar prominences.
3. Study of the role of magnetic fields in the late stages of stellar evolution.
Members
Principal investigator
Tobías
Felipe García
Project staff
Elena
Khomenko Shchukina
Íñigo
Arregui Uribe-Echevarría
Andrés
Asensio Ramos
Carlos Humberto
Domínguez-Tagle Paredes
María Jesús
Martínez González
Juan Carlos
Trelles Arjona
Carlos
Westendorp Plaza
Collaborators
Héctor David
Socas Navarro
Dr.
J.C. del Toro Iniesta
Dr.
R. Kostik
Dr.
N. Shchukina
Dr.
V. Olshevsky
Dr.
A. Sainz Dalda
Dr.
W. Schmidt
Dr.
Th. Berkefeld
Dr.
S.K. Solanki
Dr.
A. Gandorfer
Prof.
P. Cally
Dr.
S. Shelyag
Dr.
M. Stangalini
Dr.
C. Beck
Dr.
C. Kuckein
Dr.
C. Quintero Noda
Dr.
I. Calvo Santamaria
Dr.
C. González Fernández
Dr.
J.de la Cruz Rodríguez
Dr.
M. Leitzinger
Dr.
A. Pastor Yabar
Dr.
A. López Ariste
Dr.
Franco Leone
Dr.
R. Manso Sainz
Dr.
Luis R Bellot Rubio
Results
- Spiral waves in sunspots: They have been interpreted as magnetoacoustic waves propagating from the interior to the atmosphere following the direction of the magnetic field. We have characterized the magnetic field topology, dismissing the twist of the field lines as the cause of the spiral shape (Felipe et al. 2019).
- Magnetic response to umbral flashes: Simultaneous spectropolarimetric observations of the chromospheric He I 10830 and Ca II 8542 lines have been used to estimate the fluctuations of the magnetic field associated to shock waves. The shocks cause expansion of the magnetic field lines (Houston et al. 2018, including A. Asensio Ramos).
Scientific activity
Related publications
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Numerical Simulations of Conversion to Alfvén Waves in SunspotsWe study the conversion of fast magnetoacoustic waves to Alfvén waves by means of 2.5D numerical simulations in a sunspot-like magnetic configuration. A fast, essentially acoustic, wave of a given frequency and wave number is generated below the surface and propagates upward through the Alfvén/acoustic equipartition layer where it splits intoKhomenko, E. et al.
Advertised on:
22012 -
High-resolution Observations of Siphon Flows in a Solar Magnetic PoreWe investigate signatures of siphon flows in a region around a solar magnetic pore, observed in the photosphere at μ = 0.6, during its decay phase. We analyze high-resolution Stokes spectra acquired by Hinode/Solar Optical Telescope along the Fe I pair at 630.2 nm. We determine the vector magnetic field and the line-of-sight velocity by anGuglielmino, S. L. et al.
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122011 -
The Effects of Magnetic-field Geometry on Longitudinal Oscillations of Solar ProminencesWe investigate the influence of the geometry of the solar filament magnetic structure on the large-amplitude longitudinal oscillations. A representative filament flux tube is modeled as composed of a cool thread centered in a dipped part with hot coronal regions on either side. We have found the normal modes of the system and establish that theLuna, M. et al.
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92012 -
Rayleigh-Taylor Instability in Partially Ionized Compressible PlasmasWe study the modification of the classical criterion for the linear onset and growing rate of the Rayleigh-Taylor instability (RTI) in a partially ionized plasma in the two-fluid description. The plasma is composed of a neutral fluid and an electron-ion fluid, coupled by means of particle collisions. The governing linear equations and appropriateDíaz, A. J. et al.
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72012 -
Kelvin-Helmholtz Instability in Partially Ionized Compressible PlasmasThe Kelvin-Helmholtz instability (KHI) has been observed in the solar atmosphere. Ion-neutral collisions may play a relevant role for the growth rate and evolution of the KHI in solar partially ionized plasmas such as in, e.g., solar prominences. Here, we investigate the linear phase of the KHI at an interface between two partially ionizedSoler, R. et al.
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42012 -
Ubiquitous quiet-Sun jetsContext. IMaX/Sunrise has recently reported the temporal evolution of highly dynamic and strongly Doppler shifted Stokes V signals in the quiet Sun. Aims: We attempt to identify the same quiet-Sun jets in the Hinode spectropolarimeter (SP) data set. Methods: We generate combinations of linear polarization magnetograms with blue- and redshifted farMartínez-Pillet, V. et al.
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62011 -
The 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. For the correction of low-order aberrations, a Correlating Wave-Front Sensor (CWS) was used. It consisted of a six-element Shack - Hartmann wave-front sensor (WFS), a fast tip-tilt mirrorBerkefeld, T. et al.
Advertised on:
12011 -
The Solar Orbiter Mission and its Polarimetric and Helioseismic Imager (SO/PHI)We briefly outline the scientific and instrumental aspects of ESA's Solar Orbiter mission. Special emphasis is given to the Polarimetric and Helioseismic Imager, the instrument with the highest relevance for helioseismology applications, which will observe gas motions and the vector magnetic field in the photosphere at high spatial and temporalGandorfer, Achim et al.
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12011 -
SUNRISE Impressions from a successful science flightSUNRISE is a balloon-borne telescope with an aperture of one meter. It is equipped with a filter imager for the UV wavelength range between 214 nm and 400 nm (SUFI), and with a spectro-polarimeter that measures the magnetic field of the photosphere using the Fe I line at 525.02 nm that has a Landé factor of 3. SUNRISE performed its first scienceSchmidt, W. et al.
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62010 -
Spectropolarimetry of a Decaying Sunspot PenumbraWe report on high angular resolution, high-precision spectropolarimetric measurements of a decaying sunspot. The spot gradually lost its penumbra during the course of 3 days. In the late stages of evolution, where the only remnant of the spot is a naked umbra, we find small-scale inhomogeneities in the magnetic canopy surrounding it. TheBellot Rubio, L. R. et al.
Advertised on:
32008 -
Spectropolarimetric multi line analysis of stellar magnetic fieldsAims: In this paper we study the feasibility of inferring the magnetic field from polarized multi line spectra using two methods: The pseudo line approach and The PCA-ZDI approach. Methods: We use multi line techniques, meaning that all the lines of a stellar spectrum contribute to obtain a polarization signature. The use of multiple linesRamírez Vélez, J. C. et al.
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32010 -
Solar Particle Acceleration Radiation and Kinetics (SPARK). A mission to understand the nature of particle accelerationEnergetic particles are critical components of plasma populations found throughout the universe. In many cases particles are accelerated to relativistic energies and represent a substantial fraction of the total energy of the system, thus requiring extremely efficient acceleration processes. The production of accelerated particles also appearsMatthews, Sarah A. et al.
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42012 -
POLAR investigation of the Sun—POLARISThe POLAR Investigation of the Sun (POLARIS) mission uses a combination of a gravity assist and solar sail propulsion to place a spacecraft in a 0.48 AU circular orbit around the Sun with an inclination of 75° with respect to solar equator. This challenging orbit is made possible by the challenging development of solar sail propulsion. This firstAppourchaux, T. et al.
Advertised on:
32009 -
Non-detection of Magnetic Fields in the Central Stars of the Planetary Nebulae NGC 1360 and LSS 1362The presence of magnetic fields is an attractive hypothesis for shaping planetary nebulae (PNe). We report on observations of the central star of the two PNe NGC 1360 and LSS 1326. We performed spectroscopy on circularly polarized light with the Focal Reducer and Low Dispersion Spectrograph at the Very Large Telescope of the European SouthernLeone, Francesco et al.
Advertised on:
42011 -
Emergence of Small-scale Magnetic Loops Through the Quiet Solar AtmosphereWe investigate the emergence of magnetic flux in the quiet Sun at very small spatial scales, focusing on the magnetic connection between the photosphere and chromosphere. The observational data consist of spectropolarimetric measurements and filtergrams taken with the Hinode satellite and the Dutch Open Telescope. We find that a significantMartínez González, M. J. et al.
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82009 -
Detection of Vortex Tubes in Solar Granulation from Observations with SUNRISEWe have investigated a time series of continuum intensity maps and corresponding Dopplergrams of granulation in a very quiet solar region at the disk center, recorded with the Imaging Magnetograph eXperiment (IMaX) on board the balloon-borne solar observatory SUNRISE. We find that granules frequently show substructure in the form of lanes composedSteiner, O. et al.
Advertised on:
112010 -
Assessing the Behavior of Modern Solar Magnetographs and SpectropolarimetersThe design and later use of modern spectropolarimeters and magnetographs require a number of tolerance specifications that allow the developers to build the instrument and then the scientists to interpret the data accuracy. Such specifications depend both on device-specific features and on the physical assumptions underlying the particularDel Toro Iniesta, J. C. et al.
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82012 -
The Three-dimensional Structure of an Active Region Filament as Extrapolated from Photospheric and Chromospheric ObservationsThe three-dimensional structure of an active region filament is studied using nonlinear force-free field extrapolations based on simultaneous observations at a photospheric and a chromospheric height. To that end, we used the Si I 10827 Å line and the He I 10830 Å triplet obtained with the Tenerife Infrared Polarimeter at the Vacuum Tower TelescopeYelles-Chaouche, L. et al.
Advertised on:
32012 -
Magnetic field strength of active region filamentsAims: We study the vector magnetic field of a filament observed over a compact active region neutral line. Methods: Spectropolarimetric data acquired with TIP-II (VTT, Tenerife, Spain) of the 10 830 Å spectral region provide full Stokes vectors that were analyzed using three different methods: magnetograph analysis, Milne-Eddington inversions, andKuckein, C. et al.
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72009 -
An active region filament studied simultaneously in the chromosphere and photosphere. II. Doppler velocities<xref ref-type="fn" rid="FN1">Context. Paper I presents the magnetic structure, inferred for the photosphere and the chromosphere, of a filament that developed in active region (AR) NOAA 10781, observed on 2005 July 3 and July 5. Aims: In this paper we complement those results with the velocities retrieved from Doppler shifts measured at the chromosphere and the photosphere inKuckein, C. et al.
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62012
![Izquierda - Imagen RGB de la nebulosa de Orión y M43 obtenida filtros estrechos con la cámara WFC en el INT: H alfa (rojo), [S II] 6716+30 (verde), [O III] 5007 (azul). Derecha - Imagen en falso color de la nebulosa planetaria NGC 6778. En azul se ve la emisión en la línea de O II tomada con el filtro sintonizable azul del instrumento OSIRIS en el GTC; en verde imagen con el filtro estrecho de [O III] del Nordic Optical Telescope (NOT).](/sites/default/files/styles/crop_square_2_2_to_320px/public/images/project/imagen_web.jpg?itok=fsBmV9CO "Izquierda - Imagen RGB de la nebulosa de Orión y M43 obtenida filtros estrechos con la cámara WFC en el INT: H alfa (rojo), [S II] 6716+30 (verde), [O III] 5007 (azul). Derecha - Imagen en falso color de la nebulosa planetaria NGC 6778. En azul se ve la emisión en la línea de O II tomada con el filtro sintonizable azul del instrumento OSIRIS en el GTC; en verde imagen con el filtro estrecho de [O III] del Nordic Optical Telescope (NOT).")