Although located at 150 million kilometers from Earth, the Sun is in our immediate neighborhood compared with all other stars. The observation of the Sun along the decades has provided amazingly detailed views of the structure and day-to-day life of a star; the high-resolution observations achieved from Earth and space in recent years, in particular, have facilitated reaching deep theoretical insights concerning the structure and evolution of stellar atmospheres and interiors.
The Sun constitutes a physics laboratory where the complex interactions between the matter (atoms, electrons and ions, or molecules) and the magnetic field can be studied in conditions difficult to reach in devices on Earth. Of particular interest for the public are the spectacular phenomena displayed by its atmosphere, its role in generating the magnetized clouds that, after traversing the interplanetary space, can impact on Earth's magnetosphere and lead to the potentially dangerous solar storms, and the mysteries of the solar interior. Understanding of all those phenomena is gained by a combination of refined theoretical methods and direct or indirect observation using leading-edge technologies.
The solar physics group at the IAC enjoys a leadership position in different branches of solar research in the world. This is exemplified by the award of four large research grants by the European Research Council in the past years to researchers of the group, by its leading role in the European Solar Telescope project, and by its participation in other international networks and instrument projects. Globally, the group combines theoretical methods (magneto-fluid dynamics and plasma physics, radiation transfer), including 3D numerical radiation-MHD modeling, and state-of-the-art observational and diagnostic techniques, to achieve deep understanding of what constitutes and drives the structure and activity of our star.
Solar Physics (FS)
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PublicationThe Formation and Disintegration of Magnetic Bright Points Observed by Sunrise/IMaXThe evolution of the physical parameters of magnetic bright points (MBPs) located in the quiet Sun (mainly in the interwork) during their lifetime is studied...
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PublicationThe Frontier between Small-scale Bipoles and Ephemeral Regions in the Solar Photosphere: Emergence and Decay of an Intermediate-scale Bipole Observed with SUNRISE/IMaXWe report on the photospheric evolution of an intermediate-scale (≈4 Mm footpoint separation) magnetic bipole, from emergence to decay, observed in the quiet...
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PublicationThe GREGOR Fabry-Pérot InterferometerThe GREGOR Fabry-Pérot Interferometer (GFPI) is one of three first-light instruments of the German 1.5-meter GREGOR solar telescope at the Observatorio del...
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PublicationThe Hanle Effect of Lyα in a Magnetohydrodynamic Model of the Solar Transition RegionIn order to understand the heating of the solar corona it is crucial to obtain empirical information on the magnetic field in its lower boundary (the transition...
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PublicationThe Hanle Effect of the Hydrogen Lyα Line for Probing the Magnetism of the Solar Transition RegionWe present some theoretical predictions concerning the amplitude and magnetic sensitivity of the linear-polarization signals produced by scattering processes in...
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PublicationThe He I 10 830 Å line: Radiative transfer and differential illumination effectsWe study the formation of the Stokes profiles of the He I multiplet at 10 830 Å when relaxing two of the approximations that are typically considered in the...
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PublicationThe History of a Quiet-Sun Magnetic Element Revealed by IMaX/SUNRISEIsolated flux tubes are considered to be fundamental magnetic building blocks of the solar photosphere. Their formation is usually attributed to the...
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PublicationThe Horizontal Magnetic Flux of the Quiet-Sun Internetwork as Observed with the Hinode Spectro-PolarimeterObservations of very quiet Sun using the Solar Optical Telescope/Spectro-Polarimeter (SOT/SP) aboard the Hinode spacecraft reveal that the quiet internetwork...
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NewsThe IAC brings the partial solar eclipse of 29 March closer to the publicThis Saturday, 29 March 2025, the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) was able to follow the partial solar eclipse from the Teide Observatory in Tenerife...