The Structure Of The Sun

The complex internal structure of the Sun can now be studied in detail through helioseismology and neutrino astronomy. The VI Canary Islands Winter School of Astrophysics was dedicated to examining these powerful new techniques. Based on this meeting, eight specially-written chapters by world-experts are presented in this timely volume. We are shown how the internal composition and dynamical structure of the Sun can be deduced through helioseismology; and how the central temperature can be determined from the flux of solar neutrinos. This volume provides an excellent introduction for graduate students and an up-to-date overview for researchers working on the Sun, neutrino astronomy and helio- and asteroseismology.

This book equips the reader with a coherent understanding of the structure of the Sun and its evolution and provides all the knowledge required to construct a simplified model of the Sun. The early chapters cover key aspects of basic physics and describe the Sun’s size, mass, luminosity, and temperature. Using a semi-empirical approach, the structure of the present Sun is then modeled in detail, layer by layer, proceeding from the photosphere to the convection zone, radiation zone, and core. Finally, all stages of the Sun’s evolution, from its formation to the end of its life, are carefully explained. The book is primarily intended for university students taking the initial steps in moving from physics to astrophysics. It includes worked exercises and problems to illustrate the concepts discussed, as well as additional problems for independent study. With the aim of helping the reader as much as possible, most of the mathematics required to use the book are provided in the text.

The widespread tendency in solar physics to divide the solar atmosphere into separate layers and to distinguish phenomena of solar activity from phenomena of the quiet Sun emphasizes the wide ranging diversity of physical conditions and events occurring in the solar atmosphere. This diversity spans the range from a neutral, essentially quiescent atmosphere to a highly ionized, violently convective atmosphere; from a domain in which magnetic field effects are unimportant to a domain in which the magnetic pressure exceeds the gas pressure, and from a domain in which the particle motions are Maxwellian to a domain in which an appreciable fraction of the particles is accelerated to relativistic energies. It is now widely recognized that the chromosphere and corona have a common origin in the mechanical energy flux generated in the hydrogen convection zone lying beneath the photosphere. Furthermore, magnetic field phenomena appear to be as vital to the structure of th~ quiet Sun as to the active Sun. For these reasons it appears desirable to present a unified treatment of the entire solar atmosphere, both active and quiet, in a single volume. On the other hand, such a treatise must be very long if it is to avoid being superficial, and it is very difficult for a single author to write authoritatively on such a wide range of topics.

" ... Concise explanations and descriptions - easily read and readily understood - of what we know of the chain of events and processes that connect the Sun to the Earth, with special emphasis on space weather and Sun-Climate."--Dear Reader.

This book reviews the field of helioseismology and its outstanding challenges and also offers a detailed discussion of the latest computational methodologies. The focus is on the development and implementation of techniques to create 3-D images of convection and magnetism in the solar interior and to introduce the latest computational and theoretical methods to the interested reader. With the increasing availability of computational resources, demand for greater accuracy in the interpretation of helioseismic measurements and the advent of billion-dollar instruments taking high-quality observations, computational methods of helioseismology that enable probing the 3-D structure of the Sun have increasingly become central. This book will benefit students and researchers with proficiency in basic numerical methods, differential equations and linear algebra who are interested in helioseismology.

Based on an American Chemical Society Symposium organized by Professors Glenn Seaborg and Oliver Manuel, this volume provides a comprehensive record of different views on this important subject at the end of the 20th century. They have assembled a blend of highly respected experimentalists and theorists from astronomy, geology, meteoritics, planetology and nuclear chemistry and physics to discuss the origin of elements in the solar system. The intent was to include all points of view and let history judge their validity.

With an emphasis on numerical modeling, Physics of the Sun: A First Course presents a quantitative examination of the physical structure of the Sun and the conditions of its extended atmosphere. It gives step-by-step instructions for calculating the numerical values of various physical quantities.The text covers a wide range of topics on the Sun an