Heliophysics: Plasma Physics of the Local Cosmos

by Carolus J. Schrijver (Editor), George L. Siscoe (Editor)

Overview

Heliophysics is a developing scientific discipline integrating studies of the Sun's variability, the surrounding heliosphere, and climatic environments. Over the past few centuries, our understanding of how the Sun drives space weather and climate on the Earth and other planets has advanced at an ever-increasing rate. This volume, the first in this series of three heliophysics texts, integrates such diverse topics for the first time as a coherent intellectual discipline. It emphasises the physical processes coupling the Sun and Earth, allowing insights into the interaction of the solar wind and radiation with the Earth's magnetic field, atmosphere and climate system. It provides a core resource for advanced undergraduates and graduates, and also constitutes a foundational reference for researchers in heliophysics, astrophysics, plasma physics, space physics, solar physics, aeronomy, space weather, planetary science and climate science. Additional online resources, including lecture presentations and other teaching materials, are accessible at www.cambridge.org/9780521110617.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781107384408
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	07/09/2009
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	18 MB
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About the Author

Carolus Schrijver is an astrophysicist studying the causes and effects of magnetic activity of the Sun and of stars like the Sun, and the coupling of the Sun's magnetic field into the surrounding heliosphere. He obtained his doctorate in physics and astronomy at the University of Utrecht in The Netherlands in 1986, and has since worked for the University of Colorado, the U.S. National Solar Observatory, the European Space Agency, and the Royal Academy of Sciences of the Netherlands. Dr Schrijver is currently principal physicist at Lockheed Martin's Advanced Technology Center where his work focuses primarily on the magnetic field in the solar atmosphere. He is an editor or editorial board member of several journals including Solar Physics, Astronomical Notices, and Living Reviews in Solar Physics, and has co-edited three other books.

George Siscoe received his Ph.D. in physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1964. He has since held positions at the California Institute of Technology, MIT, and the University of California, Los Angeles – where he was Professor and Chair of the Department of Atmospheric Sciences. He is currently a Research Professor in the Astronomy Department at Boston University. Professor Siscoe has been a member and chair of numerous international committees and panels and is on the editorial board of the Journal of Atmospheric and Solar Terrestrial Physics. He is a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union and the 2nd Van Allen Lecturer of the AGU, 1991. He has authored or co-authored over 300 publications that cover most areas of heliophysics.

Table of Contents

Preface; 1. Prologue Carolus J. Schrijver and George L. Siscoe; 2. Introduction to heliophysics Thomas J. Bogdan; 3. Creation and destruction of magnetic field Matthias Rempel; 4. Magnetic field topology Dana W. Longcope; 5. Magnetic reconnection Terry G. Forbes; 6. Structures of the magnetic field Mark B. Moldwin, George L. Siscoe and Carolus J. Schrijver; 7. Turbulence in space plasmas Charles W. Smith; 8. The solar atmosphere Viggo H. Hansteen; 9. Stellar winds and magnetic fields Viggo H. Hansteen; 10. Fundamentals of planetary magnetospheres Vytenis M. Vasyliūnas; 11. Solar-wind magnetosphere coupling: an MHD perspective Frank R. Toffoletto and George L. Siscoe; 12. On the ionosphere and chromosphere Tim Fuller-Rowell and Carolus J. Schrijver; 13. Comparative planetary environments Frances Bagenal; Bibliography; Index.

Editorial Reviews

"Intermixed with the science are many useful examples to provide context for the physics along with discussions on model limitations, contemporary challenges, and history. This reviewer greatly enjoyed the weaving of Kristian Birkeland's historic research some 100 years ago into the chapter on stellar winds. This work dramatically illustrates the complex interplay of electromagnetism, plasmas, and gravity within a wide array of space plasma environments in our local cosmos. Essential." - CHOICE

From the Publisher