Dynamics of Complex Magnetic Fields: From the corona to the solar wind
Lead Research Organisation:
Durham University
Department Name: Mathematical Sciences
Abstract
This project, entitled "Dynamics of Complex Magnetic Fields: From the corona to the solar wind'', is a continuation of a successful collaboration between the researchers of the Universities of Dundee and Durham on the entangled nature of magnetic fields in the solar atmosphere. The corona, the outer atmosphere of the Sun, is a dynamic plasma permeated by a magnetic field. This magnetic field is responsible for creating long-lived structures such as coronal loops, for heating the corona to its multi-million degree temperatures, and for explosive events such as solar flares and coronal mass ejections. These powerful explosions lead to major space weather events at Earth, creating the Northern and Southern lights but also having the potential for damaging economic impacts on engineered systems, ranging from satellites and communication systems to power grids and pipelines. It is becoming apparent that forecasting the occurrence and impact of space weather events cannot rely on static extrapolation models but requires a deep understanding of the dynamical behaviour of the Sun's magnetic field. Details of the complex, three-dimensional magnetic fields in the Sun's corona are a critical part of the space weather chain of events. At the same time, it is important to understand the manner in which these magnetic structures evolve in the solar wind as they are carried out towards Earth. This consortium aims to address these questions, as part of a wider goal in the scientific community of understanding the formation of structures in astrophysical plasmas.
Different projects within the consortium will focus on different aspects of the chain of events. We will address problems such as: How can we best model the build-up of coronal magnetic structure over time? What is the nature of the twisted magnetic "flux ropes" that form in the corona, and how does their structure evolve as they erupt and form coronal mass ejections? Where is the source of the non-steady slow component of the solar wind? What is the mechanism that makes the Sun's corona so hot? What controls the lowest energy state to which the coronal magnetic field can relax, and therefore how much energy is available to heat the plasma? Can we predict the equilibrium structure of the corresponding relaxed states? Common to each of these questions is the challenge of understanding dynamical, multi-scale processes in the Sun's coronal magnetic field.
We will use a combination of numerical simulations and mathematical modelling to tackle these questions, primarily using the non-linear partial differential equations of magnetohydrodynamics. Importantly, the modelling will take input from the latest generation of solar telescopes - several of our models will be directly "data-driven", and observations will be used to validate output (from global simulations of the coronal magnetic field to predictions of the slow solar wind and structure of magnetic clouds at Earth). Combined, the results will help to predict and explain events in the solar corona and to answer STFC's Science Roadmap Challenge B:2 ("How does the Sun influence the environment of the Earth and the rest of the Solar System?"), as well as to understand some of the basic plasma physical processes that go on throughout the Universe.
Different projects within the consortium will focus on different aspects of the chain of events. We will address problems such as: How can we best model the build-up of coronal magnetic structure over time? What is the nature of the twisted magnetic "flux ropes" that form in the corona, and how does their structure evolve as they erupt and form coronal mass ejections? Where is the source of the non-steady slow component of the solar wind? What is the mechanism that makes the Sun's corona so hot? What controls the lowest energy state to which the coronal magnetic field can relax, and therefore how much energy is available to heat the plasma? Can we predict the equilibrium structure of the corresponding relaxed states? Common to each of these questions is the challenge of understanding dynamical, multi-scale processes in the Sun's coronal magnetic field.
We will use a combination of numerical simulations and mathematical modelling to tackle these questions, primarily using the non-linear partial differential equations of magnetohydrodynamics. Importantly, the modelling will take input from the latest generation of solar telescopes - several of our models will be directly "data-driven", and observations will be used to validate output (from global simulations of the coronal magnetic field to predictions of the slow solar wind and structure of magnetic clouds at Earth). Combined, the results will help to predict and explain events in the solar corona and to answer STFC's Science Roadmap Challenge B:2 ("How does the Sun influence the environment of the Earth and the rest of the Solar System?"), as well as to understand some of the basic plasma physical processes that go on throughout the Universe.
Organisations
- Durham University (Lead Research Organisation)
- International Space Science Institute (ISSI) (Collaboration)
- Meteorological Office UK (Collaboration)
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) (Collaboration)
- Royal Observatory of Belgium (Collaboration)
- University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) (Collaboration)
- University of Ottawa (Collaboration)
Publications
![publication icon](/resources/img/placeholder-60x60.png)
Prior C
(2016)
Twisted versus braided magnetic flux ropes in coronal geometry II. Comparative behaviour
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
![publication icon](/resources/img/placeholder-60x60.png)
Weinzierl M
(2016)
A NEW TECHNIQUE FOR THE PHOTOSPHERIC DRIVING OF NON-POTENTIAL SOLAR CORONAL MAGNETIC FIELD SIMULATIONS
in The Astrophysical Journal
![publication icon](/resources/img/placeholder-60x60.png)
Prior C
(2016)
Twisted versus braided magnetic flux ropes in coronal geometry I. Construction and relaxation
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
![publication icon](/resources/img/placeholder-60x60.png)
Yeates A
(2016)
The global distribution of magnetic helicity in the solar corona
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
![publication icon](/resources/img/placeholder-60x60.png)
Mackay D
(2016)
IMPACT OF AN L5 MAGNETOGRAPH ON NONPOTENTIAL SOLAR GLOBAL MAGNETIC FIELD MODELING
in The Astrophysical Journal
![publication icon](/resources/img/placeholder-60x60.png)
Weinzierl M
(2016)
THE POSSIBLE IMPACT OF L5 MAGNETOGRAMS ON NON-POTENTIAL SOLAR CORONAL MAGNETIC FIELD SIMULATIONS
in The Astrophysical Journal
![publication icon](/resources/img/placeholder-60x60.png)
Lowder C
(2017)
Magnetic Flux Rope Identification and Characterization from Observationally Driven Solar Coronal Models
in The Astrophysical Journal
![publication icon](/resources/img/placeholder-60x60.png)
Yeates A
(2017)
The global distribution of magnetic helicity in the solar corona (Corrigendum)
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
![publication icon](/resources/img/placeholder-60x60.png)
Whitbread T
(2017)
Parameter optimization for surface flux transport models
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
![publication icon](/resources/img/placeholder-60x60.png)
Whitbread T
(2018)
How Many Active Regions Are Necessary to Predict the Solar Dipole Moment?
in The Astrophysical Journal
![publication icon](/resources/img/placeholder-60x60.png)
Mackay D
(2018)
Magnetic Helicity Condensation and the Solar Cycle
in The Astrophysical Journal
![publication icon](/resources/img/placeholder-60x60.png)
Scott R
(2018)
Magnetic Structures at the Boundary of the Closed Corona: Interpretation of S-Web Arcs
in The Astrophysical Journal
![publication icon](/resources/img/placeholder-60x60.png)
Wyper P
(2018)
A Model for Coronal Hole Bright Points and Jets Due to Moving Magnetic Elements
in The Astrophysical Journal
![publication icon](/resources/img/placeholder-60x60.png)
Pagano P
(2018)
A new technique for observationally derived boundary conditions for space weather
in Journal of Space Weather and Space Climate
![publication icon](/resources/img/placeholder-60x60.png)
Yeates A
(2018)
Relative field-line helicity in bounded domains
in Journal of Plasma Physics
![publication icon](/resources/img/placeholder-60x60.png)
Prior C
(2018)
Quantifying reconnective activity in braided vector fields.
in Physical review. E
![publication icon](/resources/img/placeholder-60x60.png)
Yeates A
(2018)
Relative field-line helicity in bounded domains
![publication icon](/resources/img/placeholder-60x60.png)
Yeates A
(2018)
Global Non-Potential Magnetic Models of the Solar Corona During the March 2015 Eclipse
in Space Science Reviews
![publication icon](/resources/img/placeholder-60x60.png)
Candelaresi S
(2018)
Estimating the Rate of Field Line Braiding in the Solar Corona by Photospheric Flows
in The Astrophysical Journal
![publication icon](/resources/img/placeholder-60x60.png)
![publication icon](/resources/img/placeholder-60x60.png)
Whitbread T
(2019)
The need for active region disconnection in 3D kinematic dynamo simulations
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
![publication icon](/resources/img/placeholder-60x60.png)
Whitbread T
(2019)
The need for active region disconnection in 3D kinematic dynamo simulations
![publication icon](/resources/img/placeholder-60x60.png)
Yeates A
(2021)
Evolution of field line helicity in magnetic relaxation
in Physics of Plasmas
Description | Impact of magnetic complexity in solar and astrophysical plasmas: Dundee-Durham consortium |
Amount | £700,000 (GBP) |
Funding ID | ST/S000321/1 |
Organisation | Science and Technologies Facilities Council (STFC) |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 04/2019 |
End | 03/2022 |
Description | Research Project Grant |
Amount | £156,445 (GBP) |
Funding ID | RPG-2017-169 |
Organisation | The Leverhulme Trust |
Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 09/2017 |
End | 09/2020 |
Description | STFC Impact Acceleration Account |
Amount | £4,000 (GBP) |
Organisation | Science and Technologies Facilities Council (STFC) |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 07/2016 |
End | 03/2017 |
Title | Field line helicity tools |
Description | Python codes for working with magnetic field line helicity in Cartesian domains. |
Type Of Material | Computer model/algorithm |
Year Produced | 2018 |
Provided To Others? | Yes |
Impact | Accompanies the publication Yeates & Page (2018). Being used for work of an International Space Science Institute team on magnetic helicity. |
URL | https://github.com/antyeates1983/flhtools |
Title | Spherical PFSS code |
Description | Python code for computing potential field source surface extrapolations. |
Type Of Material | Computer model/algorithm |
Year Produced | 2018 |
Provided To Others? | Yes |
Impact | Has been used in a journal publication by collaborators in India (for eclipse prediction), as well as collaborators within the consortium. Has also been used by scientist at Imperial College who has written a new interface for the model (https://github.com/dstansby/pfsspy). |
URL | https://github.com/antyeates1983/pfss |
Description | ISSI team on Global Non-Potential Magnetic Models of the Solar Corona |
Organisation | International Space Science Institute (ISSI) |
Country | Switzerland |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | I led the successful proposal to ISSI to run an International Team on this topic, and have led the team activities in two meetings at ISSI, Bern, Switzerland. I was first author of the final publication. |
Collaborator Contribution | Team members have attended the meetings and contributed research to the project. |
Impact | Two international team meetings, and a number of spin-off collaborations and publications. Final journal paper describing project now published in Space Science Reviews (Yeates et. al, "Global Non-Potential Magnetic Models of the Solar Corona During the March 2015 Eclipse"). Contributed model code to prediction of August 2017 solar eclipse by Predictive Science, Inc (http://www.predsci.com/corona/aug2017eclipse/). |
Start Year | 2015 |
Description | ISSI team on magnetic helicity in astrophysical plasmas |
Organisation | International Space Science Institute (ISSI) |
Country | Switzerland |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Core member of team. Providing simulation data for analysis by other team members and also carrying out my own analysis on other data. |
Collaborator Contribution | Providing data, analysing data, and comparing methods. |
Impact | None yet. |
Start Year | 2018 |
Description | ISSI team on reconstructing solar and heliospheric magnetic field evolution over the past century |
Organisation | International Space Science Institute (ISSI) |
Country | Switzerland |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Team member, providing expertise in flux transport simulation. |
Collaborator Contribution | Simulations and observations/data analysis. |
Impact | Joint paper with Virtanen et al. |
Start Year | 2017 |
Description | Met Office |
Organisation | Meteorological Office UK |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Developing numerical simulations of the solar wind for improved space weather forecasting. |
Collaborator Contribution | Assisting in development, running models, analysis, hosting meetings. |
Impact | Meetings, developing new numerical code (in progress). Has led to two joint publications so far: Edwards,Yeates, Bocquet & Mackay (2015) and Mackay, Yeates, Bocquet (2016). |
Start Year | 2013 |
Description | NASA/LWS flux ropes |
Organisation | National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) |
Country | United States |
Sector | Public |
PI Contribution | I am consultant on a NASA/LWS targeted science team on Flux Ropes, led by Mark Linton (US Naval Research Laboratory). I have done modelling work, and attended two team meetings (in the US and in the UK). |
Collaborator Contribution | Collaborators have done modelling and observational work. |
Impact | Work is still underway. |
Start Year | 2015 |
Description | Royal Observatory of Belgium |
Organisation | Royal Observatory of Belgium |
Country | Belgium |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Providing numerical simulation of the magnetic field in the solar corona. |
Collaborator Contribution | Providing observational data (PROBA2 satellite) for comparison, and training in using the data. |
Impact | Seminar talk. Multidisciplinary: involves applied mathematics and observational solar physics. We had a workshop on "coronal fans" at ESA in Madrid, in November 2016. |
Start Year | 2014 |
Description | UCLA Basic Plasma Science Facility |
Organisation | University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) |
Department | Physics and Astronomy |
Country | United States |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Applied our analysis techniques to experimental magnetic field data from interacting flux ropes. |
Collaborator Contribution | Carried out the experiment. |
Impact | Multi-disciplinary involving laboratory plasma physics and solar physics/applied mathematics. Published paper on this work with C. Prior in Physical Review E (2018) and joint paper with UCLA in 2020. |
Start Year | 2013 |
Description | University of Oulu |
Organisation | University of Ottawa |
Department | Department of Physics |
Country | Canada |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Provided flux transport model for historical magnetogram study. Performed further joint studies, took part jointly in ISSI team, and made two visits to Oulu. |
Collaborator Contribution | Provided historical data. |
Impact | We have a joint publication (Virtanen et al. 2017) and further publications in progress. |
Start Year | 2015 |
Description | "Into the red dragons lair" workshop |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Talk on "Friction, flux ropes and field line helicity" at international workshop on space weather, held in Wales. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
Description | Applied maths seminar. |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Gave seminar on "An inverse problem from solar physics" to wider applied maths researchers. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
Description | Attended Bz working group. |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Attended Bz working group in Arlington, Virginia (USA), organised by US Air Force Office for Scientific Research. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
Description | CISM lectures |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
Results and Impact | Gave series of lectures on "Magnetohydrodynamic relaxation theory" at CISM summer school on Advanced Topics in MHD, Udine, Italy. Preparing published book of lecture notes. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
URL | https://www.maths.gla.ac.uk/~dmactaggart/mhd_school.html |
Description | ISSI International Team |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Led International Team at the International Space Science Institute on "Global non-potential magnetic models of the solar corona". Organising two meetings in Bern, Switzerland, and coordinating project to bring multiple research groups together (about 10 representatives). Led to new study and intercomparison of models. Published findings in Space Science Reviews article. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015,2016,2017 |
URL | http://www.issibern.ch/teams/modelsolcorona/ |
Description | ISSI team on magnetic activity in the past |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Participated in International Team at International Space Science Institute, on "Reconstructing Solar and Heliospheric Magnetic Field Evolution Over the Past Century". Results will be publicly available data products and journal publications. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018,2019 |
URL | http://www.issibern.ch/teams/solheliomagnet/ |
Description | ISSI team on magnetic helicity |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Participating in International Team at International Space Science Institute on "Magnetic Helicity in Astrophysical Plasmas". |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018,2019 |
URL | http://www.issibern.ch/teams/helicityastroplas/ |
Description | NORDITA talk |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Invited review talk at focus meeting, as part of NORDITA scientific programme on Solar Helicities in Theory and Observations, Stockholm, Sweden. Led to subsequent discussion. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
URL | https://agenda.albanova.se/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=6548 |
Description | Poster at UKMHD 2017 |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Poster at UKMHD 2017 meeting in Durham. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
Description | Research presentation at ISSI meeting on Magnetic Helicity, Switzerland |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Gave invited presentation to working group on magnetic helicity at ISSI, Bern. Took part in discussions of group research project. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
URL | http://www.issibern.ch/teams/magnetichelicity/ |
Description | SHINE workshop, New Mexico |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Presented and discussed my research as part of SHINE workshop, USA. Audience included wide range of plasma physicists interested in heliosphere. At the same meeting, I co-chaired the session on magnetic maps. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
Description | Seminar at Centre for Fusion, Space and Astrophysics, University of Warwick |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Seminar talk about my work to a broad audience of plasma physicists. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
Description | Seminar at DAMTP |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Research seminar talk on "Impact of magnetic topology on plasma dynamics" at DAMTP Astrophysics Seminar, University of Cambridge. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
Description | Seminar at Glasgow |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Astrophysics seminar at University of Glasgow. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
Description | Seminar at Glasgow University |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Gave Applied Mathematics Seminar about my research at Glasgow University, to a broad audience of applied mathematicians. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
Description | Seminar at Naval Research Laboratory, USA |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Research seminar at NRL, Washington DC on "Friction, flux ropes and field line helicity: modelling CME initiation" |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
Description | Seminar at UCLAN |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Astrophysics seminar at UCLAN, Preston. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
Description | Talk at Bz workshop, New Mexico |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Gave research presentation at Bz workshop organised by US Air Force. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
Description | Talk at Helicity Thinkshop, Tokyo |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Talk on "Field line helicity as a tool for coronal physics" at Helicity Thinkshop 3, Tokyo (Japan). |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
Description | Talk at MREP 2017 meeting |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Talk at conference in honour of M. Proctor's requirement, University of Cambridge. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
Description | Talk at National Astronomy Meeting, Hull |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Talk on "Can we drive coronal evolution models from magnetic maps?" at National Astronomy Meeting, Hull. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
Description | Talk at RAS Discussion Meeting on Solar Orbiter. |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Talk "Reconstructing the coronal magnetic field: a model comparison" at specialist discussion meeting on upcoming Solar Orbiter mission. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
Description | Talk at RAS specialist discussion meeting, London |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Gave presentation about my research at RAS specialist discussion meeting on Flux Emergence. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
URL | http://www.maths.gla.ac.uk/~dmactaggart/ras.html |
Description | Talk at UKMHD meeting, Glasgow |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Talk about my research to national audience from all areas of MHD. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
Description | UKMHD talk |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Conference talk at UKMHD meeting. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
URL | http://www.mcs.st-and.ac.uk/~bamc2018/Registration.html |