UK Solar Physics Newsletter

            Lyndsay Fletcher & Duncan Mackay, Editors
                         September 2007


   o News
        o  New Book: 'Magnetohydrodynamics: Historical Evolution and Trends'.
	o  New RHESSI Science Nugget
   o Jobs
        o  Job vacancy at BAS: Researcher in Magnetospheric Complexity.
        o  Postdoctoral Research Scientist at NWRA/CoRA, Boulder
   o Meetings
        o  Fall AGU special section on magnetic reconnection.
        o  SH10: Special session at the Fall AGU.
        o  AGU Fall 2007, SH04 Session:Solar Wind and Heliospheric Turbulence:
              Dynamics of Small Scale Fluctuations.
        o  AGU Session SH14/IN20: Analysis Techniques for Solar and
              Heliospheric Data.
	o  AGU Sesion SM06: Particle Acceleration:
	      Recent Developments In Theory And Observations

Dear Colleague,

Here are a few items which have come to our attention since the last
Newsletter.

You can find this newsletter also at the UKSP website:

http://www.uksolphys.org

Lyndsay (lyndsay@astro.gla.ac.uk)
Duncan (duncan@mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk)

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*                      News, Views and Gossip                         *
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>From Sergei Molokov <csx176 [at] piens.freeserve.co.uk>

Dear Colleagues,

I would like to draw your attention to the book on magnetohydrodynamics,
which has just been published by Springer. Besides discussion of current
trends, the book contains reminiscences by several pioneers in the field,
which are informative and at times highly entertaining.

With best regards

Sergei


    `Magnetohydrodynamics: Historical Evolution and Trends'

     Eds: S. Molokov, R. Moreau, H.K. Moffatt,
     Ser. Fluid Mechanics and its Applications, vol. 80
     Springer, 2007, 410pp. ISBN: 978-1-4020-4832-6

		***********************************

From: Steven Christe <schriste@ssl.berkeley.edu>

Announcing a new RHESSI Science Nugget

"RHESSI, Hinode, and Spin" by Sam Krucker  and Steven Christe

A problem in imaging the X-class flare of Dec 13th, 2006
observed by both RHESSI and the new Hinode is explained and solved!

It can be found on http://sprg.ssl.berkeley.edu/~tohban/nuggets/

We publish these at roughly two week intervals.

Please send any questions regarding the RHESSI science nuggets to
rhessi.nuggets@gmail.com or directly to the nugget authors.

S. Christe
H. Hudson


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*                         Jobs                                        *
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>From Gareth Chisham <GCHI@BAS.AC.UK>

Job vacancy at BAS: Researcher in Magnetospheric Complexity

Post: Researcher in Magnetospheric Complexity
Duration: 2 years, 8 months to 3 year Fixed Term appointment (dependent on
salary level awarded)
Salary: 22,220 - 27,440 pa

The British Antarctic Survey (BAS), part of the Natural Environment Research
Council, aims to undertake a world class programme of scientific research and
to sustain for the UK an active and influential regional presence and a
leadership role in Antarctic affairs.

The BAS Natural Complexity programme aims to identify, measure, and explain
complexity in Nature. As part of this programme, you will apply complexity
science techniques to the analysis of the near-Earth space environment. Your
activities will include developing automated software packages to identify and
measure signatures of a process known as magnetic reconnection in radar and
spacecraft imager data. You will also engage in publishing scientific papers
and presenting results at international level.

With a PhD in physics or mathematics or equivalent postgraduate experience, you
will have an interest in space science and complexity and experience of
programming in a compiled language such as C or FORTRAN. Effective in working
on your own initiative and in collaboration with others, you will also be able
to manage resources to meet agreed objectives and deadlines.

For further information and to apply visit www.antarctica.ac.uk/employment
or call (01223) 221508.
Please quote reference: BAS 44/07.
Closing date: 9 September 2007.
Interview date: 9 October 2007.

We welcome applications from all sections of the community. People from ethnic
minorities are currently under-represented and
their applications are particularly welcome. There is a guaranteed interview
scheme for suitable candidates with disabilities.

		********************************************

From: K D Leka <leka [at] cora.nwra.com

Postdoctoral or Junior Research Scientist in Solar Physics, NWRA/CoRA.

NorthWest Research Associates, CoRA Division has an opening for a
postdoctoral or junior researcher in solar physics starting Autumn or
Winter 2007.  NWRA is a small company with research activities including
solar and heliospheric physics, oceanography, meteorology and upper
atmospheric research (http://www.nwra.com).  This position is to work
with Drs. Leka, Barnes and others in the broad topic of coronal structure
and evolution, energetic events, and active region magnetic fields,
incorporating observational and/or modeling analysis; however, experience
in spectropolarimetry is particularly desirable.  Applicants should have
a Ph.D. in a relevant field.  Applications consisting of a curriculum
vita, names of three professional references, and a short statement
of research interests, will be accepted until the position is filled;
consideration will begin 01 September 2007.  Salaries and benefits at NWRA
are very competitive, and the work environment is flexible, similar to
an academic institution.  For further questions, please contact Dr. Leka
(leka "at" cora.nwra.com).  Applications should be sent by email or
by post to Dr. K.D. Leka, NWRA/CoRA Div., 3380 Mitchell Ln., Boulder,
CO 80301.  NWRA encourages applications from women and minorities and
is an Equal Opportunity Employer M/F/V/D.

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*              Conferences, Workshops, Meetings                       *
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From: Mark Linton

Fall AGU special section on magnetic reconnection

Magnetic Reconnection in Laboratory, Magnetospheric and Solar Plasmas

Magnetic reconnection is a long-outstanding physics phenomena, which plays
important roles in the dynamics of magnetospheric, solar, and laboratory
plasmas. The physical mechanisms behind observed fast reconnection have been
the subject of extensive research over the past several decades. Recently,
significant progress has been made on these subjects based on all three
approaches: observations in both magnetospheric and solar plasmas, analytic and
numerical studies using various models beyond simple MHD, and controlled
laboratory experiments with sufficiently detailed diagnostics. In particular,
both out-of-plane quadrupole magnetic field (a manifestation of two-fluid
physics) and fluctuations in the lower-hybrid frequency range (a manifestation
of two-fluid and kinetic physics) have been found in all three approaches. In
addition, boundary conditions and geometrical constraints have been found to
play important roles in determining reconnection process. Therefore, it is
timely to host a special session to compare these recent results in detail
at the Fall AGU meeting. Objectives of the proposed session are to provide a
focused platform for scientific exchanges among scientists from space, solar,
and laboratory communities. Theories and numerical simulations will play an
important role in bridging these communities together by provide a unifying
physics understanding. We expect an enthusiastic response to the call of this
special session.

Conveners: Hantao Ji, Stuart Bale, Mark Linton

                   ************************************
From: Kathy Reeves

SH10: Special session at the Fall AGU

We are soliciting abstracts for a special session at the AGU Fall meeting in
San Francisco entitled Observational and Theoretical Analyses of Coronal
Structures and Dynamics in the Hinode Era.

Description: Coronal active regions (ARs) generate the bulk of the steady UV,
EUV, and soft X-ray emission that affect the Earth's radiation environment
and climate in various manners, and therefore the development of physics-based
models for the understanding and prediction of solar radiation in the UV and
beyond is of paramount importance. Additionally, explosive events in regions
of otherwise quiet sun provide a laboratory for studying smaller-scale
transient events and magnetic interactions. The spatial, spectral, and temporal
 resolution of the three instruments on Hinode are a major advance over
previous instrumentation, and are giving us new insight into the physics of
solar activity. For this session we invite the international solar community
to present their most recent results from analyses--both observational and
theoretical--that improve our understanding of coronal heating mechanisms and
the physical processes involved in generating transient events. This session
will serve to enhance and stimulate increased collaboration between those
analyzing the data, and plasma and MHD theorists and numerical modelers, by
presenting an overview of current efforts. An emphasis will be placed on
studies that use the Hinode data, or have implications for observations to be
planned for Hinode, including results supported by other spacecraft and ground
based observatories; although our goal is to include papers focused on the
science of coronal loops and transients without requiring a direct link to
Hinode.

Abstracts are due September 6th.

Conveners: Kathy Reeves, Ed DeLuca, David McKenzie, George Doschek

George says that he will buy beer for the submitters of the first 10 abstracts.

                   ************************************

>From Dastgeer Shaikh

AGU Fall 2007, SH04 Session:Solar Wind and Heliospheric Turbulence:
              Dynamics of Small Scale Fluctuations

Recent years have been marked by substantial progress in understanding "Solar
Wind and Heliospheric Turbulence: Dynamics of Small Scale Fluctuations". Those
include theoretical advances, better numerical modeling and new spacecraft
measurements. For instance, spacecraft data on solar wind fluctuations provide
one with an opportunity to test the validity of various theoretical
constructions. In particular, the Solar wind fluctuation measurements, based on
multi spacecrafts database, spanned over several orders of magnitudes in
frequencies yield a composite spectrum of power spectral density (PSD) as a
function of frequency. There exists a spectral break at length-scales that are
of the size of ion inertial length-scales and the frequencies correspond to ion
gyrofrequencies. Notably, the dynamics of the length-scales in this region
requires the extention of usual MHD models to invoke, for instance, Hall and
other kinetic effects into modeling small-scale solar wind turbulence. The
required realistic description of the entire range of scales, including the
length-scales smaller than the proton gyro radii presents an important
challenge.

We invite contributions from various Space Plasma Physicists to contribute
their theories, simulations, spacecrafts data, data analyst and observational
groups to this session to unravel the dynamics of small scale turbulence and by
investigating the underlying nonlinear processes that give rise to physical
effects; specifically the onset and evolution of compressibility, spectral and
variance anisotropies, cascades, dissipation,heating, and formation of
nonlinear structures.


Convenors: Dastgeer Shaikh
Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics
University of California
Riverside, ca, USA 92521
dastgeer@ucr.edu

Alex Lazarian
University of Wisconsin
wi, USA
alazarian@facstaff.wisc.edu

                   ************************************
>From Dean Pesnell

AGU Session SH14/IN20: Analysis Techniques for Solar and Heliospheric Data

Do you have the best data analysis technique known to science?

Please come and tell your fellow scientists all about it.

We invite abstracts for Session SH14: Analysis Techniques for Solar and
Heliospheric Data at the upcoming Fall 2007 Meeting of the American Geophysical
Union in San Francisco, Calif.

Large, complex data sets (multi-wavelength, multiple viewpoint, multiple
times, multiple events) are increasingly common in solar and heliophysics.
Many efforts are underway in the research community to develop new ways to
handle, process, browse and extract physically useful information from these
data. Modern image and signal processing, such as wavelets, fractal dimension,
and data assimilation, are but a few of the techniques that will be used to
extract information from the upcoming flood of data. This session will focus on
describing these techniques, especially those that can provide predictions of
solar phenomena. Papers in all areas of heliophysics are welcome.

Please contact one of the conveners for more information:
W. Dean Pesnell (dean.pesnell@gsfc.nasa.gov), C. Alex Young
(alex.young@gsfc.nasa.gov), Jack Ireland (ireland@grace.nascom.nasa.gov), or
James McAteer (j.mcateer@helio.gsfc.nasa.gov)

                   ************************************

From: Lyndsay Fletcher <lyndsay [at] astro.gla.ac.uk>

We invite contributions to AGU Session SM06: Particle Acceleration -
Recent Develompents in Theory and Observations.

Acceleration of charged particles is an essential ingredient of several
solar and magnetospheric phenomena. This session solicits contributions
covering advances in theoretical modeling of particle acceleration
processes in magnetospheric substorms, terrestrial aurorae and solar
flares. Emphasis will be given to models of turbulence and nonlinear
effects in the acceleration process, and on the differences and
similarities in the acceleration of electrons and ions. Recent modeling
results that are compared to relevant observations from space missions
(e.g., SOHO, RHESSI, STEREO, Hinode, ACE, Wind, Cluster, Double Star)
are strongly encouraged. This session is aimed at promoting discussion
and exchange of ideas on the commonalities in these models and authors
are particularly encouraged to consider the applicability of their model
in different parameter regimes.

Abstracts are due by 23.59UT on September 6th 2007 and can be submitted
online at http://www.agu.org/meetings/fm07/

For further information, please contact the session convenors:

Giota Petkaki <ppe [at] bas.ac.uk>
Lyndsay Fletcher <lyndsay [at] astro.gla.ac.uk>