USPW-2023

Scientific Rationale
Magnetic activity of the Sun drives multi-scale dynamical phenomena in the solar atmosphere, observed from ground and space-based solar telescopes. The temporal, spatial and energy-scales of these phenomena ranges from large-scale Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs) and X-class flares to microflares and nanoflares. Recent advancements in observations and simulations reveal that magnetic reconnection occurring at different length and energy scales plays a key role in the onset and dynamical evolution of various phenomena observed on the Sun’s atmosphere along with restructuring of solar magnetic fields. The magnetic topologies responsible for the restructuring is found to be no more limited to current sheets with anti-parallel field lines (essentially a two-dimensional concept) but can be three dimensional nulls, quasi-separatrix-layers (QSLs) and hyperbolic flux tubes (HFTs). Contextually, unambiguous signatures of reconnection have been observed down to the energy scale of microflares by the XSM onboard Chandrayan-2, thanks to its unprecedented spectral and temporal resolutions. The upcoming Aditya-L1 mission will put India into a select list of countries having the capability of observing the Sun from space. The satellite has various remote sensing and in-situ instruments observing the solar phenomena from the L1 vantage point. As a multiwavelength observatory, the science goals of each payload are well defined and it is expected that the synergy between various observations will reveal hitherto unexplored territory of the solar sciences. In view of this, the time is ripe to conduct a focused national science meeting at Udaipur Solar Observatory (USO) on various multi-scale phenomena on the solar atmosphere. An important motivation of this meeting will be to identify emerging research topics that will drive the solar sciences in the next decade. The ideas interchanged during the meeting on present understanding of the subject and future challenges will be utilized to prepare a decadal vision document which, will catapult future space missions and ground-based observatories. Also, the vision document will help young researchers to target areas of specialization. Accordingly, the list of speakers is proposed to be a mix of early career scientists and senior researchers.

Scientific Rationale

Magnetic activity of the Sun drives multi-scale dynamical phenomena in the solar atmosphere, observed from ground and space-based solar telescopes. The temporal, spatial and energy-scales of these phenomena ranges from large-scale Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs) and X-class flares to microflares and nanoflares. Recent advancements in observations and simulations reveal that magnetic reconnection occurring at different length and energy scales plays a key role in the onset and dynamical evolution of various phenomena observed on the Sun’s atmosphere along with restructuring of solar magnetic fields. The magnetic topologies responsible for the restructuring is found to be no more limited to current sheets with anti-parallel field lines (essentially a two-dimensional concept) but can be three dimensional nulls, quasi-separatrix-layers (QSLs) and hyperbolic flux tubes (HFTs). Contextually, unambiguous signatures of reconnection have been observed down to the energy scale of microflares by the XSM onboard Chandrayan-2, thanks to its unprecedented spectral and temporal resolutions.

The upcoming Aditya-L1 mission will put India into a select list of countries having the capability of observing the Sun from space. The satellite has various remote sensing and in-situ instruments observing the solar phenomena from the L1 vantage point. As a multiwavelength observatory, the science goals of each payload are well defined and it is expected that the synergy between various observations will reveal hitherto unexplored territory of the solar sciences.

In view of this, the time is ripe to conduct a focused national science meeting at Udaipur Solar Observatory (USO) on various multi-scale phenomena on the solar atmosphere. An important motivation of this meeting will be to identify emerging research topics that will drive the solar sciences in the next decade. The ideas interchanged during the meeting on present understanding of the subject and future challenges will be utilized to prepare a decadal vision document which, will catapult future space missions and ground-based observatories. Also, the vision document will help young researchers to target areas of specialization. Accordingly, the list of speakers is proposed to be a mix of early career scientists and senior researchers.