Letters of Intent received in 2015

LoI 2017-301
New horizons for solar and stellar magnetism from the next generation instruments

Date: 10 July 2017 to 14 July 2017
Category: Non-GA Symposium
Location: La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain
Contact: Hector Socas Navarro (hsocas@iac.es)
Coordinating division: Division E Sun and Heliosphere
Other divisions: Division G Stars and Stellar Physics
Co-Chairs of SOC: Mark Rast (University of Colorado)
María Jesús Martínez González (Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias)
Hector Socas Navarro (Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias)
Co-Chairs of LOC: María Jesús Martínez González (Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias)
Hector Socas Navarro (Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias)

 

Topics

- High spatio-temporal resolution observations
- High precision spectropolarimetric observations
- Synoptic studies of solar and stellar magnetism
- Instrumentation
- Theory and numerical simulations

 

Rationale

Magnetic fields are at the base of star formation, as well as stellar structure and evolution. Our Sun has magnetic fields that give rise to a plethora of spectacular activity phenomena that may even impact the Earth climate. Magnetic activity in other stars is, in some cases, orders of magnitude more intense, influencing – often drastically – the transport of chemical species and angular momentum, affecting possible planetary systems, etc. Understanding solar and stellar magnetic fields is one of the central problems of physics and astrophysics, as well as a key to cosmic magnetism in general. Because of its proximity, the Sun serves as a Rosetta stone holding the key to unlock the secrets of magnetic field generation in other stars. The most detailed observational data and theoretical
models have been obtained so far for the Sun. However, equally important is the study of magnetic fields in other cool stars which may provide important clues on the dynamo mechanism in very different parameter domains.

New Solar telescopes such as GREGOR (El Teide), the New Solar Telescope (Big Bear Solar Observatory), and the New Vacuum Solar Telescope (Fuxian Solar Observatory) are expected to deliver high spatial resolution data that will improve our knowledge of the fundamental processes that govern the solar atmosphere. The Solar Dynamics Observatory, the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph, and the recently launched CLASP missions complement the successful SOlar and Heliospheric Observatory, the Hinode satellite, and Sunrise balloon by observing the outer solar atmosphere, providing clues to understand the mechanisms that heat these layers up to million degrees, expanding the ground-based results.

Stars are numerous and show great variety, covering a large fraction of the parameter space. Thus, observations of cool stars from the successful NARVAL or ESPaDOnS instruments are now analysed as part of large spectropolarimetric surveys, such as the BCool project, which will allow a better understanding of stellar magnetism and its relationship to stellar parameters such as masses, ages, rotation periods, and chemical composition. The Kepler mission, with its unprecedented high accuracy photometry, has unveiled many details of stellar magnetism and activity cycles, improving the knowledge of the Mount Wilson Observatory 50-year stellar activity survey through the S-chromospheric index.

This Symposium is aimed at presenting the best, up-to-date results from solar and stellar observations with ground and space-based instrumentation and prepare for the science that will be enabled with upcoming telescopes and probes. It will bring together the whole worldwide solar and stellar physics community and summarise the latest scientific achievements, including numerical simulations and diagnostic techniques, fostering discussion on ways to better exploit the wealth of data expected from the next generation solar and stellar instrumentation, such as the European Solar Telescope (Canary Islands) or the Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope (Hawaïi) for high spatio-temporal resolution solar physics, Solar Orbiter and Solar-C that will deliver a battery of new space-based observations, the MIRADAS (10.4-m Gran Telescopio Canarias) and the SPIROU (Canada France Hawaïi Telescope) to open a new window to near-infrared stellar spectropolarimetry, the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (Llano de Chajnantor) for both solar and stellar radio observations, or the Plato mission that will explore one million stars.

The proposed venue of the meeting, Tenerife (La Laguna), is well-positioned to host this Symposium: the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias, and the solar group, is involved in the European Solar Telescope project, the Solar Orbiter mission, as well as in some aspects of the science of the Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope, the CLASP rocket, and the MIRADAS instrument for the Gran Telescopio Canarias. The Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias has experience on meeting organization, some as large as the last EWASS 2015. The Symposium is timely because there are no similar meetings proposed for 2017. The SOC of this Symposium will work for gender equality and will promote young scientists for the invited reviews and invited talks.