Queen's University Belfast Consolidated Grant in Solar Physics and Solar System Studies 2023 - 2026

The Astrophysics Research Centre at Queen's University Belfast has a long and very successful track record in the areas of solar physics and solar system bodies. Our Consolidated Grant programme covers a number of topics in these areas and falls within the remit of the Solar Studies and Planetary studies sub-panels of STFC's Astronomy Grants Panel. Our proposed solar physics projects will utilise high spatial, spectral and temporal resolution observations, together with radiative magnetohydrodynamic simulations, to address some key questions in the field including: How are solar magnetic fields generated and how do they evolve? How is magnetic energy in the Sun's atmosphere transported, stored and released? How does the structure of solar magnetic fields relate to the dynamic phenomena that we observe? More specifically, we will determine the physical properties of the smallest magnetic features in the Sun's atmosphere which constitute the building blocks of solar magnetism. We will study wave dynamics in solar jets and sunspots and the contribution of these waves to the energy flow throughout the solar atmosphere. Observations in the hydrogen Lyman-alpha, the strongest line in the solar spectrum, will provide insights into nonthermal electron beams and the corresponding response of the solar atmosphere to flare heating. Our Solar System projects will utilise a range of ground-based facilities to address the processes that govern the formation and evolution of planetary systems. They will study the Centaurs population of icy planetesimals, probe the drivers of their activity, their physical properties and their active surface evolution. We will study the collisional evolution of the asteroid belt and investigate the processes and phenomena that lead to the transient activity in asteroids.