Plasma Physics Of The Local Cosmos

Solar and space physics is the study of solar system phenomena that occur in the plasma state. Examples include sunspots, the solar wind, planetary magnetospheres, radiation belts, and the aurora. While each is a distinct phenomenon, there are commonalities among them. To help define and systematize these universal aspects of the field of space physics, the National Research Council was asked by NASA's Office of Space Science to provide a scientific assessment and strategy for the study of magnetized plasmas in the solar system. This report presents that assessment. It covers a number of important research goals for solar and space physics. The report is complementary to the NRC report, The Sun to the Earthâ€"and Beyond: A Decadal Research Strategy for Solar and Space Physics, which presents priorities and strategies for future program activities.

Heliophysics is a developing scientific discipline integrating studies of the Sun's variability, the surrounding heliosphere, and climatic environments. Over the past few centuries, our understanding of how the Sun drives space weather and climate on the Earth and other planets has advanced at an ever-increasing rate. This volume, the first in this series of three heliophysics texts, integrates such diverse topics for the first time as a coherent intellectual discipline. It emphasises the physical processes coupling the Sun and Earth, allowing insights into the interaction of the solar wind and radiation with the Earth's magnetic field, atmosphere and climate system. It provides a core resource for advanced undergraduates and graduates, and also constitutes a foundational reference for researchers in heliophysics, astrophysics, plasma physics, space physics, solar physics, aeronomy, space weather, planetary science and climate science. Additional online resources, including lecture presentations and other teaching materials, are accessible at www.cambridge.org/9780521110617.

The second in this series of three heliophysics texts, integrating the many aspects of space storms and their energetic radiation.

These proceedings will be of interest to scientists in the fields of space physics, theoretical and observational astrophysics, plasma physics, and turbulence theory. Most of the ordinary matter in the Universe exists in a partially ionized plasma state. Examples found in this book include solar flares, the heliosphere, interstellar clouds, supernova shock waves and relativistic jets. The papers discuss various plasma processes in astrophysics such as relativistic flows, instabilities, turbulence, generation of magnetic fields, charged particle acceleration, and cosmic radiation.

In February 2004, the President announced a new goal for NASA; to use humans and robots together to explore the Moon, Mars, and beyond. In response to this initiative, NASA has adopted new exploration goals that depend, in part, on solar physics research. These actions raised questions about how the research agenda recommended by the NRC in its 2002 report, The Sun to the Earth and Beyond, which did not reflect the new exploration goals, would be affected. As a result, NASA requested the NRC to review the role solar and space physics should play in support of the new goals. This report presents the results of that review. It considers solar and space physics both as aspects of scientific exploration and in support of enabling future exploration of the solar system. The report provides a series of recommendations about NASA's Sun-Earth Connections program to enable it to meet both of those goals.

During the past decade our understanding of plasma physics has witnessed an explosive growth due to research in two areas: work directed toward controlled nuclear fusion and work in space physics. This book addresses the growing need to apply these complementary discoveries to astrophysics. Today plasma is recognized as the key element to understanding the generation of magnetic fields in planets, stars and galaxies, the accel- eration and transport of cosmic rays, and many other phenomena occurring in interstellar space, in radio galaxies, stellar atmospheres, quasars, and so forth.

Journeying through fusion in the universe, Fusion: A Voyage Through the Plasma Universe discusses all aspects of fusion and how they relate to our universe. It also studies the attempts to produce fusion energy on Earth. The book addresses a wide range of topics from stars, galaxies, comets, pulsars, black holes, and quasars to the auroras, lightning, and fluorescent tubes. Interestingly, the author explores how artists and authors like Vincent van Gogh, Leonardo da Vinci, and Hannes Alfvén have been fascinated by cosmic phenomena that rely on fusion and plasmas. He discusses motions in plasma, such as flames, waves, and whirls similar to those that occur in water. The book also examines several other branches of science where parallels can be found with fusion plasmas, including ecological systems that provide only very short-term weather forecasts and the dramatic changes in the world economy with its explosive tendencies and sometimes catastrophic results. It briefly shows how these nonlinear phenomena are at the heart of modern fusion plasma theory.

Heliophysics is a fast-developing scientific discipline that integrates studies of the Sun's variability, the surrounding heliosphere, and the environment and climate of planets. Over the past few centuries, our understanding of how the Sun drives space weather and climate on the Earth and other planets has advanced at an ever increasing rate. This 2010 volume, the last in this series of three heliophysics texts, focuses on long-term variability from the Sun's decade-long sunspot cycle and considers the evolution of the planetary system over ten billion years from a climatological perspective. Topics covered range from the dynamo action of stars and planets to processes in the Earth's troposphere, ionosphere, and magnetosphere and their effects on planetary climate and habitability. Supplemented by online teaching materials, it can be used as a textbook for courses or as a foundational reference for researchers in fields from astrophysics and plasma physics to planetary and climate science.