WINSUN | New Windows onto the Sun: Probing the Sun’s magnetic field with an array of new missions and observatories

Summary
The Sun provides the energy necessary to sustain life on Earth, making it a star of unique importance for human society. It is also the only star whose surface we can resolve to reveal the richness of the complex processes acting there, creating a highly dynamic and varied environment. Much of the structure and dynamics visible on the Sun is caused by the intricately structured magnetic field and its interaction with the turbulent plasma. However, there are considerable gaps in our knowledge of the fundamental physical processes driving the evolution of the solar magnetic field, from its generation to its removal from the solar surface, and how the field drives solar activity and variability. To fill these gaps, this project will make use of powerful new observational missions and facilities: Solar Orbiter, Sunrise III, Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope (DKIST) and Aditya-L1, which will open new windows onto the Sun and its magnetic field. They will provide the first clear views of the solar poles (Solar Orbiter), and the highest spatial resolution ever in the Extreme Ultraviolet (Solar Orbiter) and in the visible (DKIST). They will also explore a new spectral window onto the solar photosphere and chromosphere (Sunrise III, Aditya-L1). The advanced instrumentation, complemented by novel data analysis techniques and state-of-the-art magneto-hydrodynamic simulations, will allow tackling, often in entirely new ways, long-standing difficult problems that have resisted previous attempts at resolving them. Elucidating these will provide deep insights into the life cycle of the magnetic field, and how it affects the Sun’s atmosphere and variability. A decade’s efforts by me and my group has positioned us at the core of the new instrumentation, data analysis techniques and simulations, making us very well placed to apply the exciting data from the new resources to unravelling the fundamental physics driving the evolution of the Sun’s magnetic field.
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More information & hyperlinks
Web resources: https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/101097844
Start date: 01-09-2023
End date: 31-08-2028
Total budget - Public funding: 2 498 750,00 Euro - 2 498 750,00 Euro
Cordis data

Original description

The Sun provides the energy necessary to sustain life on Earth, making it a star of unique importance for human society. It is also the only star whose surface we can resolve to reveal the richness of the complex processes acting there, creating a highly dynamic and varied environment. Much of the structure and dynamics visible on the Sun is caused by the intricately structured magnetic field and its interaction with the turbulent plasma. However, there are considerable gaps in our knowledge of the fundamental physical processes driving the evolution of the solar magnetic field, from its generation to its removal from the solar surface, and how the field drives solar activity and variability. To fill these gaps, this project will make use of powerful new observational missions and facilities: Solar Orbiter, Sunrise III, Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope (DKIST) and Aditya-L1, which will open new windows onto the Sun and its magnetic field. They will provide the first clear views of the solar poles (Solar Orbiter), and the highest spatial resolution ever in the Extreme Ultraviolet (Solar Orbiter) and in the visible (DKIST). They will also explore a new spectral window onto the solar photosphere and chromosphere (Sunrise III, Aditya-L1). The advanced instrumentation, complemented by novel data analysis techniques and state-of-the-art magneto-hydrodynamic simulations, will allow tackling, often in entirely new ways, long-standing difficult problems that have resisted previous attempts at resolving them. Elucidating these will provide deep insights into the life cycle of the magnetic field, and how it affects the Sun’s atmosphere and variability. A decade’s efforts by me and my group has positioned us at the core of the new instrumentation, data analysis techniques and simulations, making us very well placed to apply the exciting data from the new resources to unravelling the fundamental physics driving the evolution of the Sun’s magnetic field.

Status

SIGNED

Call topic

ERC-2022-ADG

Update Date

31-07-2023
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Horizon Europe
HORIZON.1 Excellent Science
HORIZON.1.1 European Research Council (ERC)
HORIZON.1.1.0 Cross-cutting call topics
ERC-2022-ADG
HORIZON.1.1.1 Frontier science
ERC-2022-ADG