Solar Magnetohydrodynamics

I have felt the need for a book on the theory of solar magnetic fields for some time now. Most books about the Sun are written by observers or by theorists from other branches of solar physics, whereas those on magnetohydrodynamics do not deal extensively with solar applications. I had thought of waiting a few decades before attempting to put pen to paper, but one summer Josip Kleczek encouraged an im mediate start 'while your ideas are still fresh'. The book grew out of a postgraduate lecture course at St Andrews, and the resulting period of gestation or 'being with monograph' has lasted several years. The Sun is an amazing object, which has continued to reveal completely unexpected features when observed in greater detail or at new wavelengths. What riches would be in store for us if we could view other stars with as much precision! Stellar physics itself is benefiting greatly from solar discoveries, but, in tum, our understanding of many solar phenomena (such as sunspots, sunspot cycles, the corona and the solar wind) will undoubtedly increase in the future due to their observation under different conditions in other stars. In the 'old days' the solar atmosphere was regarded as a static, plane-parallel structure, heated by the dissipation of sound waves and with its upper layer expanding in a spherically symmetric manner as the solar wind. Outside of sunspots the magnetic field was thOUght to be unimportant with a weak uniform value of a few gauss.

This advanced textbook reviews the complex interaction between the Sun's plasma atmosphere and its magnetic field.

I have felt the need for a book on the theory of solar magnetic fields for some time now. Most books about the Sun are written by observers or by theorists from other branches of solar physics, whereas those on magnetohydrodynamics do not deal extensively with solar applications. I had thought of waiting a few decades before attempting to put pen to paper, but one summer Josip Kleczek encouraged an im mediate start 'while your ideas are still fresh'. The book grew out of a postgraduate lecture course at St Andrews, and the resulting period of gestation or 'being with monograph' has lasted several years. The Sun is an amazing object, which has continued to reveal completely unexpected features when observed in greater detail or at new wavelengths. What riches would be in store for us if we could view other stars with as much precision! Stellar physics itself is benefiting greatly from solar discoveries, but, in tum, our understanding of many solar phenomena (such as sunspots, sunspot cycles, the corona and the solar wind) will undoubtedly increase in the future due to their observation under different conditions in other stars. In the 'old days' the solar atmosphere was regarded as a static, plane-parallel structure, heated by the dissipation of sound waves and with its upper layer expanding in a spherically symmetric manner as the solar wind. Outside of sunspots the magnetic field was thOUght to be unimportant with a weak uniform value of a few gauss.

The book covers intimately all the topics necessary for the development of a robust magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) code within the framework of the cell-centered finite volume method (FVM) and its applications in space weather study. First, it presents a brief review of existing MHD models in studying solar corona and the heliosphere. Then it introduces the cell-centered FVM in three-dimensional computational domain. Finally, the book presents some applications of FVM to the MHD codes on spherical coordinates in various research fields of space weather, focusing on the development of the 3D Solar-InterPlanetary space-time Conservation Element and Solution Element (SIP-CESE) MHD model and its applications to space weather studies in various aspects. The book is written for senior undergraduates, graduate students, lecturers, engineers and researchers in solar-terrestrial physics, space weather theory, modeling, and prediction, computational fluid dynamics, and MHD simulations. It helps readers to fully understand and implement a robust and versatile MHD code based on the cell-centered FVM.

Most of the solar system is in the plasma state and its subtle non-linear interaction with the magnetic field is described for many purposes by the equations of magnetohydrodynamics (MHD). Over the past few years this important and complex field has become one of the most actively pursued areas of research, with increasingly diverse applications in geophysics, space physics and astrophysics. This book examines the basic MHD topics, such as equilibria, waves, instabilities and reconnection and examines each in the context of different areas that utilize MHD. Many of the world's leading experts have contributed to this volume, which has been edited by two of the key enthusiasts. It is hoped that it can help the reader to appreciate and understand the common threads between the different branches of magnetohydrodynamics. This book will be a timely exposition of recent advances made in the field.

Develops a fresh mathematical approach to coronal seismology, explaining oscillatory phenomena by drawing upon original research and complex modelling techniques.

This book is an introductory text on magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) - the study of the interaction of magnetic fields and conducting fluids.

Modern observations, including recent ones with the Hubble Space Telescope, have revealed that the Universe is replete with plasma outflows from all kinds of objects, ranging from stars in all their variety to galaxies. In this masterly survey of plasma astrophysics, written by leading practitioners, the first 15 articles in Part I deal with the use of the MHD approach in several key problems of solar plasma, such as magnetoconvection and magnetic field generation, sunspots and coronal loops, magnetic nonequilibrium and coronal heating, coronal mass ejections, the acceleration of the solar wind, and stellar winds across the Main Sequence. The following 16 articles of Part II deal with the use of the same MHD approach in several central and puzzling aspects of more distant astrophysical plasmas, such as the dynamics of the interstellar medium, collimated outflows from young stellar objects and accretion disks, molecular outflows and jets associated with enigmatic binaries and symbiotic stars, relativistic flows associated with superluminal microquasars in our own galaxy, astrophysical jets from nearby galaxies, or remote active galactic nuclei and quasars, probably fuelled by supermassive black holes. The emphasis throughout is on the striking underlying similarities in the physics of all these problems. Audience: Indispensable for solar physicists and astrophysics alike. An ideal textbook for graduate students in physics and astrophysics.