Princeton Center for Heliophysics Seminar

There have been remote observations of the solar atmosphere for centuries, and in situ measurements of the heliosphere for almost 60 years. Computer simulation capabilities have vastly improved, and simulation techniques of the coupling between the layers of the sun, through the solar atmosphere, and out into the heliosphere continue to advance. Yet there are longstanding, major unsolved questions of how the solar atmosphere is energized on small and large scales, as well as how the solar wind and heliosphere are formed. The answers involve universal physical processes of energy storage and release, manifested through magnetic reconnection, turbulence, and waves. These questions remain unanswered because observations and simulations are limited to narrow aspects of the physics and/or system, and thus cannot capture cross-scale and cross-region coupling. We compare different forms of energy storage and release in the solar atmosphere and describe progress that could be made with new observations and simulation capabilities that link the kinetic scales, through the mesoscales, to the global processes.