On the Sun, the presence of magnetic flux at the photosphere is closely linked to (1) steady heating of the overlying atmosphere and (2) transient brightenings, the largest of which are flares. I will discuss statistical properties of both phenomena, with an emphasis on aspects of each that might apply to other astrophysical objects, such as other

The phenomenon of magnetic reconnection in a magnetized plasma has been a subject of numerous studies over the past several decades in a variety of contexts, from high energy astrophysics, to solar and space physics, to laboratory-based experiments. However, most magnetic reconnection studies have been devoted to exploring different collisionality

The New Robotic Telescope (NRT) and the Center for Optics (CSOA) are two of the IAC's most ambitious technology initiatives for the next few years. On the one hand, NRT will be the most powerful robotic telescope in the world allowing the Spanish astrophysics community to play a leading role in the field of time domain astrophysics, while CSOA will