Synopses & Reviews
The Sun continually ejects matter into space, blowing a huge bubble of supersonic plasma. This solar wind bathes the whole solar system and shapes all planetary environments. The recent growth of space technology has considerably increased our knowledge of this medium. This book presents a modern introduction to the subject, starting with basic principles and including all the latest advances from space exploration and theory. It contains a short introduction to plasma physics and discusses the structure of the solar interior and atmosphere, the production of solar wind and its perturbations. It explains the objects of the Solar System, from dust to comets and planets, and their interaction with the solar wind. The final sections explore the astrophysical point of view. The topics are treated at various levels of difficulty both qualitatively and quantitatively. This book will appeal to graduate students and researchers in earth and atmospheric sciences, and astrophysics.
Synopsis
The Sun continually ejects matter into space, and this solar wind bathes the whole solar system and shapes all planetary environments. This is a modern introduction to the subject, starting with basic principles and including all the latest advances from space exploration and theory. It contains a short introduction to plasma physics and discusses the structure of the solar interior and atmosphere, the production of solar wind and its perturbations. This book will appeal to researchers and graduate students in atmospheric physics and astrophysics.
Synopsis
Introduction to solar wind for researchers and graduate students in atmospheric physics and astrophysics.
About the Author
Nicole Meyer-Vernet is Research Director at Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Paris, and a senior scientist at the Observatoire de Paris. She received the 'E. Dechelle' de l'Académie des Sciences and has been involved with a number of spacecraft investigations of the earth's ionosphere, the solar wind, and cometary and planetary environments.
Table of Contents
Preface; Part I. The Wind From the Sun: an Introduction: 1. A brief history of ideas; 2. Looking at the Sun; 3. Observing the solar wind; Part II. Toolkit for Space Plasma Physics: 4. What is a plasma?; 5. Dynamics of a charged particle; 6. Many particles: from kinetics to MHD; 7. Basic tools for ionisation; 8. Problems; Part III. Anatomy of the Sun: 9. An (almost) ordinary star; 10. Structure and dynamics; 11. Some guesses on solar magnetism; 12. Problems; Part IV. The Outer Solar Atmosphere: 13. From the photosphere to the corona; 14. Force balance and magnetic structures; 15. Energy balance; 16. Some prominent species; 17. Time variability; 18. Coronal heating: Boojums at work?; 19. Hydrostatic instability of the corona; 20. Problems; Part V. How does the solar wind blow?: 21. The basic problem; 22. Simple fluid theory; 23. Letting the temperature vary; 24. A mixture of fluids; 25. Kinetic descriptions; 26. Building a 'full' theory?; 27. Problems; Part VI. Structure and Perturbations: 28. Basic large-scale magnetic field; 29. Three-dimensional structure during the solar cycle; 30. Major perturbations; 31. Waves and turbulence; 32. Minor constituents; 33. Problems; Part VII. Bodies in the Wind: Dust, Asteroids, Planets and Comets: 34. Bodies in the wind; 35. Basics of the interaction; 36. The magnetospheric engine; 37. Physics of heliospheric dust grains; 38. Comets; 7.6. Problems; Part VIII. The Solar Wind in the Universe: 39. The frontier of the heliosphere; 40. Cosmic rays; 41. Examples of winds in the universe; 42. Problems; Index.