SOLAIRE · Solar Atmospheric and Interplanetary Research

Final Activity Report Summary - SOLAIRE (Solar Atmospheric and Interplanetary Research)

The SOLAIRE network has carried out fundamental research work in solar physics, with special emphasis on training young scientists in a network-wide environment. The research topics of the network were (1) magnetic flux emergence from the solar interior into the atmosphere; (2) connectivity between solar atmospheric layers and field extrapolation; (3) magnetic reconnection; (4) solar flares and (5) coronal mass ejections and interplanetary dynamics. The teams of the network have produced a large number of front-line publications in journals with high impact factors which received an abundant number of citations. The team members have been invited to give a large number of reviews and lectures at conferences and have given lecture courses for the network's trainees. The network teams have produced several high-level computing tools along the duration of SOLAIRE: a large computer code for the solution of radiation MHD problems (BIFROST); kinetic codes focused on solving reconnection problems; particle-in-cell codes to calculate acceleration in current sheets; a spectral synthesis and inversion considering the Hanle and Zeeman effects (HAZEL); a magnetic field extrapolation service (FROMAGE) to process observations for the benefit of the community. The SOLAIRE researchers have obtained observational time at the most advanced solar telescope installations in the world, as well as computing time in large computer installations included in the top 10 of the top-500 supercomputer list. The network has appointed 25 young scientists at the postgraduate and early postdoctoral level. Of the 10 long-term postgraduate appointees, 6 have reached the PhD exam while the network was still in operation. Most of our PhD students have been appointed at two network institutions in succession, so as to receive multidisciplinary training and obtain a rich experience of research in two different European countries. The appointees have been offered a large number of network-wide training events, including 5 Postgraduate Schools organised by the network teams within the SOLAIRE framework, 5 sets of Complementary-skills courses, 4 general network meetings and a dedicated workshop for young astronomers. The majority of our appointees are now in the next stage of their research career. The SOLAIRE network has striven to foster collaboration across European countries, institutions and research topics within solar physics. The high number of research collaborations, the important amount of papers published by authors of more than one network team and the very high number of mutual visits between nodes witness to the success of the network's efforts. The European solar physics community has benefited from SOLAIRE in a number of ways: first, through the increase of cohesion obtained through the links and collaborations and through the frequent training, research and management contacts provided by the network. Second, by organising several research schools on topics ranging from basic solar physics or advanced numerical methods to practical courses on observational or computational techniques. Finally, by providing cohesion across the community and attracting to the consortium further institutions which may attempt to run similar networks in the future.

Текст от CORDIS, на английски · Данни: CORDIS, © Европейски съюз