Solar atmospheric physics
The solar atmosphere is the part of the Sun above its convective zone, consisting of photosphere, chromosphere, transition region and corona. It is the source of space weather that concerns with the time varying conditions within the Solar System, including the solar wind that is a stream of charged particles released from the upper atmosphere of the Sun. Therefore, to understand the formation and the variation of the space weather, one has to trace back to the solar atmosphere and the knowledge of the physics of that region is crucial. In another hand, the solar atmosphere is also a unique physics laboratory where we can study in detail the interaction between the plasma and the magnetic field over a variety of spatial and temporal scales that cannot be reproduced in laboratory.
Our research
The group mainly focuses on two major problems: coronal heating and origin of the solar wind. The coronal heating problem relates to the question why the temperature of the Sun's corona is millions of degree higher than that of the photosphere. Since the second law of thermodynamics prevents heat conduction directly from the solar photosphere, the high temperatures require energy to be carried from the solar interior to the corona by non-thermal processes. The solar wind origin problem is the question how the supersonic streams of charged particles are released from the upper atmosphere of the Sun and how they are accelerated in their source regions.
To study the above problems, the team mainly concentrates on the observational aspect. One division works on data analyses that focus on small-scale dynamic events in the solar atmosphere relating to the coronal heating and the source region of the solar wind. Another division of the team aims at development of large-angle white-light coronagraph.
Group members
Prof. Lidong XIA (principal investigator)
Dr. Weixin LIU (faculty)
Dr. Zhenghua HUANG (faculty)
Dr. Hui FU (faculty)
Dr. Mingzhe SUN (postdoc)
Dr. Kalogodu CHADRASCHEKAH (Postdoc)
Chaozhou MOU (PhD student)
Zhenyong HOU (PhD student)
Rui DING (Master student)
Youqian QI (Master student)
In-progress projects and grants
1. Development of Large-Angle White-Light Coronagraph for the Inner- Heliosphere, NSFC major project for instrument development, CNY~6100k, 2017.01~2021.12
2. Source dependence of the in situ solar wind parameters and spectroscopic diagnosis of outflows from the quiet Sun, NSFC young scientist project, CNY240k, 2017.01~2019.12
3. Physics and modeling of coronal-interplanetary coupling, 973 project (led by NSSC), CNY 1780k, 2012.01~2016.08
4. Multi-wavelength study of the origin of the nascent solar wind, NSFC general project, CNY800k, 2013.01~2016.12
5. High-resolution spectroscopic study of coronal bright points and their associating phenomena, NSFC general project, CNY900k, 2015.01~2018.12
6. Observations of photospheric magnetic cancellation and its response in the higher solar atmosphere, NSFC young scientist project, CNY250k, 2015.01~2017.12
7. Observations of small scale magnetic activities and their contributions to the coronal heating, Special funding of the China postdoc science foundation, CNY 150k, 2015.07~2018.07
8. Study of the small-scale magnetic activities related to the small-scale cronal activities, Shandong provincial natural science foundation, CNY120k, 2014.12~2017.12
Recent publications (selected papers from the last two years):
1. Fu, Hui; Xia, Lidong; Li, Bo; Huang, Zhenghua; Jiao, Fangran; Mou, Chaozhou， “Measurements of Outflow Velocities in on-disk Plumes from EIS/Hinode Observations”, ApJ, 794, 109, 2014/10, ADS: http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2014ApJ...794..109F
2. Huang, Zhenghua; Madjarska, Maria S.; Xia, Lidong; Doyle, J. G.; Galsgaard, Klaus; Fu, Hui, ” Explosive Events on a Subarcsecond Scale in IRIS Observations: A Case Study” ApJ, 797, 88, 2014/12, ADS: http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2014ApJ...797...88H
3. Fu, Hui; Li, Bo; Li, Xing; Huang, Zhenghua; Mou, Chaozhou; Jiao, Fangran; Xia, Lidong, “Coronal Sources and In Situ Properties of the Solar Winds Sampled by ACE During 1999 - 2008”, Sol. Phys., 290, 1399, 2015/05, ADS: http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2015SoPh..290.1399F
4. Yan, Limei; He, Jiansen; Xia, Lidong; Jiao, Fangran, “Observational Evidence for the Causes and Consequences of Chromospheric Reconnection”, ApJ, 804(1), 69, 2015/05, ADS:http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2015ApJ...804...69Y
5. Jiao, Fangran; Xia, Lidong; Li, Bo; Huang, Zhenghua; Li, Xing; Chandrashekhar, Kalugodu; Mou, Chaozhou; Fu, Hui, “Sources of Quasi-periodic Propagating Disturbances above a Solar Polar Coronal Hole”, ApJL, 809, 17, 2015/08, ADS: http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2015ApJ...809L..17J
6. Huang, Zhenghua; Xia, Lidong; Li, Bo; Madjarska, Maria S. , “Cool Transition Region Loops Observed by the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph”, ApJ, 810, 46, 2015/09, ADS:http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2015ApJ...810...46H
7. Mou, Chaozhou; Huang, Zhenghua; Xia, Lidong; Madjarska, Maria S.; Li, Bo; Fu, Hui; Jiao, Fangran; Hou, Zhenyong, “Magnetic Flux Supplement to Coronal Bright Points”, ApJ, 818, 9, 2016/02, ADS: http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2015ApJ...810...46H
8. Jiao, Fang-Ran; Xia, Li-Dong; Huang, Zheng-Hua; Li, Bo; Fu, Hui; Yuan, Ding; Chandrashekhar, Kalugodu, “Damping and power spectra of quasi-periodic intensity disturbances above a solar polar coronal hole”, RAA, 16, 8, 2016/06, ADS: http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2016RAA....16f...8J
9. Hou, Zhenyong; Huang, Zhenghua; Xia, Lidong; Li, Bo; Madjarska, Maria S.; Fu, Hui; Mou, Chaozhou; Xie, Haixia. “Narrow-line-width UV bursts in the transition region above Sunspots observed by IRIS”, ApJL, 2016, accepted, http://arxiv.org/abs/1608.04892
