event
Monday 11 Mar 2019: 1st Year PhD students' mid-year report
Megan Maunder, Paul Bowen and Giulia Murtas - University of Exeter
Harrison 170 14:30-17:00
Presentations (20 minute talk followed by 10 minutes of questions) given by Megan Maunder, Paul Bowen then Giulia Murtas
Presenter: Megan Maunder
Title: Multi-Spacecraft Investigation of High-Latitude Interplanetary Coronal Mass Ejections
Abstract: Interplanetary Coronal Mass Ejections are key drivers of space weather throughout the heliosphere and the understanding of these phenomena is crucial to space weather forecasting. Solar Orbiter is due to launch in 2020 and will provide the first observations of the Solar high latitudes since the Ulysses mission. Solar Orbiter will be equipped with instruments for in-situ measurements and will provide the first remote-sensing observations of the solar high-latitudes as it travels out of the ecliptic plane. This begs the questions: ‘what is Solar Orbiter likely to observe?’ and, ‘how can precursory observations help prepare for this mission?’. I will present preliminary works and future plans to help tackle these questions
Presenter: Giulia Murtas
Title: Modelling magnetic reconnection in partially ionized plasmas of the solar atmosphere
Abstract: The complex framework of phenomenaoccurringin the solar atmosphere indicates that magnetic reconnection in partially ionized plasma may provide a crucial contribution in the understanding of how solar activity is generated. Together with the increasing quality of observations, it is therefore important to build more realistic reconnection models that are essential for filling different gaps in the theoretical description of a wide variety of phenomena, from heating mechanisms to the role played by instabilities in reconnection in the solar atmosphere. In this talk, I will briefly discuss the approaches used to model the behaviour of partially ionized plasmaand magnetic reconnection processes in the solar atmosphere, focusing on the setting and evolution of plasmoid coalescence instability.
