UKSP Nuggets

Introducing UKSP Nuggets, short articles highlighting solar physics research in the UK. This is modelled after Hugh Hudson’s Yohkoh Science Nuggets, which ran from 1997 to 2002, and the subsequent RHESSI Nuggets, which started in 2005. As Hugh puts it

a nugget is a lump, especially of native gold or other precious metal. We hope our science nuggets contain some precious substance but since they are written by working scientists, there may be rough spots.

If you would you like to author a nugget please contact us via the form here and you will be contacted by our Nugget editors (Lyndsay Fletcher and Iain Hannah). Remember the nugget needs to be short and succinct, we want a nugget not a mine.

Other Nuggets: RHESSI, EIS, CESRA/radio.


19. Quasi-biennial variations in helioseismic frequencies
by Anne-Marie Broomhall, W.J. Chaplin, Y. Elsworth, University of Birmingham
BiSON data hints at mysterious goings on in the solar interior during the recent, unusual solar minimum.

18. Mega-tsunamis above the surface of the Sun
by Eamon Scullion*,†, Robert Erdélyi*, Victor Fedun* and Gerry Doyle,
*University of Sheffield and Armagh Observatory

Acoustic wave transmission from photosphere to corona in spicules.

17. Transverse coronal loop oscillations seen by AIA/SDO
by Rebecca White and Erwin Verwichte, University of Warwick
Probing the coronal plasma with the diagnostic power of kink waves.

16. The Alfvén Amplifier
by Youra Taroyan, Aberystwyth University
The Alfvén instability of steady state flux tubes.

15. Structure and Dynamics of a Polar Crown Cavity as Observed by SDO/AIA
by Stéphane Régnier, Robert Walsh and Caroline Alexander, University of Central Lancashire
EUV observations of an erupting cavity.

14. A New Model for the Solar Magnetic Carpet
by Karen Meyer, Duncan Mackay University of St Andrews, and Aad van Ballegooijen, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
Quiet sun observations motivate dynamic model of the photosphere.

13. The density of EUV flare footpoints
by David Graham, Lyndsay Fletcher & Iain Hannah, University of Glasgow
Density diagnostics of flare footpoints show a little bit of corona in the chromosphere.

12. The Heating of Coronal Loops by Random Photospheric Twisting
by Michael Bareford, Philippa Browning, University of Manchester and Ronald Van der Linden, Royal Observatory of Belgium
Random twisting of loop footpoints produces bursty heating in a coronal loop.

11. Tracking CME effects from “the Sun to the mud”
by Peter Gallagher, Pietro Zucca, Eoin Carley and Joe McCauley, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland
New solar radio telescopes at Birr Castle continues tradition of astronomical discovery.

10. Searching for the Origin of Sun-quakes
by Sarah Matthews, Sergei Zharkov & Valentina Zharkova, Mullard Space Science Lab and University of Bradford
What launches a sunquake – particles, heating, or something completely different?

9. The influence of coronal loop cooling on transverse oscillations
by Richard Morton and Robert Erdélyi, University of Sheffield
From static to dynamic – loop oscillations and cooling plasmas.

8. Magnetic Kelvin-Helmholtz Instability at the Sun
by Claire Foullon, University of Warwick
New SDO/AIA images show CME ripples like clouds on Earth.

7. The size distribution of the Magnetic Bright Points in the quiet photosphere
by M. Mathioudakis, P. Crockett, D. Jess, S. Shelyag, F. Keenan, D. Christian, Queen’s University Belfast
Have we resolved the smallest photospheric magnetic elements ?

6. Coupled Alfvén and Kink Oscillations Propagating in the Solar Corona
by David Pascoe, University of St. Andrews
Transverse waves are observed throughout the corona – are they Alfven waves or kink waves – or could they be both?

5. MHD wave propagation and magnetic topology
by James McLaughlin, Northumbria University
What happens when waves meet reconnection.

4. SDO/AIA response to quiet Sun, active region and flare plasma
by Brendan O’Dwyer, DAMTP, University of Cambridge
Care must be taken when interpreting images from the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) on the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) in terms of plasma temperature.

3. Solar flare electrons – testing the two-component model
by Jingnan Guo, Lyndsay Fletcher, Siming Liu & Eduard Kontar, University of Glasgow
Can we divide the flare electron distribution neatly into a slowly varying thermal component and a rapidly varying, non-thermal component or is this two-component model an over-simplification?

2. Magnetic Relaxation in the Solar Corona
by Antonia Wilmot-Smith, Anthony Yeates, Gunnar Hornig and David Pontin, University of Dundee.
Magnetic relaxation is a fundamental physical process, ubiquitous in the solar corona. In this nugget we overview some exciting new progress in relaxation theory and modelling made by UKSP researchers.

1. Probing the 3D structure of the F-corona with STEREO/HI
by Daniel Brown, University of Central Lancashire
While primarily designed to study CMEs, the Heliospheric Imagers on STEREO are versatile enough to study other phenomena such as the F-corona. This nugget uses HI observations to investigate the 3D structure and alignment of the F-corona.

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