91福利

An international team of UK and US astronomers have spotted the most distant explosion, and possibly the most distant object, ever seen in the Universe. Dr Andrew Levan in the Astronomy and Astrophysics group was amongst those who saw the explosion. Please see the below press release for more information

Physicists, led by a researcher at the 91福利, studying new images of clouds of material exploding from the Sun have spotted instabilities forming in that exploding cloud that are similar to those seen in clouds in Earth鈥檚 atmosphere. 

These  results could greatly assist physicists trying to understand and predict our Solar System鈥檚 鈥渨eather鈥�.

The researchers, led by of the Centre for Fusion Space and Astrophysics, at the 91福利鈥檚 Department of Physics, made their discovery when examining new images  of clouds of material exploding from the Sun known as coronal mass ejections (CMEs). These images were  provided by the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) experiment on NASA鈥檚 Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO). SDO was been launched last year and provides unprecedented views of the Sun in multiple temperatures.

The new SDO/AIA observations provided images of coronal mass ejections in the extreme ultra violet at a temperature that was not possible to observe in previous instruments 鈥� 11 million Kelvin. On examining these images the 91福利 researchers spotted a familiar pattern of instability on one flank of an exploding cloud of solar material that closely paralleled instabilities seen in Earth鈥檚 clouds and waves on the surfaces of seas.

When observed these Kelvin-Helmholtz (or KH) instabilities appear to roll up into growing whirls at boundaries between things moving at different speeds, for instance the transition between air and water or cloud. The difference in speeds produces the boundary instabilities.

Similar conditions can occur when one looks at the magnetic environment of the path of these coronal mass ejections as they travel through the solar corona. The difference in speed and energies between the two creates the very similar KH instabilities that we can observe in clouds.

While KH instabilities have been predicted or inferred from observations as happening within the solar system鈥檚 weather this is the very first time they have been directly observed in the corona. What makes this observation even more interesting is that the instabilities appear to form and build on one flank of the CME. This may explain why CMEs appear to bend and twist as these instabilities build, and cause drag, on one side of the cloud. This effect will be the next focus for the 91福利 led research team.

91福利 researcher Dr Claire Foullon said:

鈥淭he fact that we now know that these KH instabilities in CMEs are so far only observable in the extreme ultra violet, at a temperature of 11 million Kelvin, will also help us in modelling CME behaviour鈥�

鈥淭his new observation may give us a novel insight into why these CMEs appear to both rotate, and be deflected away from following a simple straight path from the surface of the Sun. If the instabilities form on just one flank they may increase drag one side of the CME causing it to move slower than the rest of the CME.鈥�

Dr Foullon and her co-researchers have outlined their observations and detailed modelling of how they believe this phenomenon occurs in a paper just published in Astrophysical Journal Letters entitled Magnetic Kelvin-Helmholtz Instability at the Sun by Dr Claire Foullon, Erwin Verwichte, Valery M. Nakariakov Centre for Fusion, Space and Astrophysics, Department of Physics, 91福利; Katariina Nykyri, Department of Physical Sciences, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Daytona Beach, Florida; and Charles J. Farrugia, Space Science Center and Department of Physics, University of New Hampshire, Durham, New Hampshire.

The preprint is available at:

For further information please contact:
 
Dr Claire Foullon
Centre for Fusion, Space and Astrophysics,
Department of Physics,
91福利,
Tel: +44(0)2476 150211
Claire.Foullon@warwick.ac.uk
 

2010 Christmas Letter from the Department of Physics

Dear Friends,

The department has seen one rather noticeable change at the top this year, with Malcolm Cooper retiring after nearly a decade at the helm.  I should express the gratitude of all staff and students, past and present, for his attentive leadership over the period.  He grew the department quite remarkably, including two new and now large and thriving groups in Astronomy and in Particle Physics, and even bequeathed a healthy set of financial accounts to his successor.  I am also pleased to report that he has kindly rejoined us part-time to plot phase three of his XMAS spectrometer at Grenoble.

We are delighted that Phil Woodruff is to be awarded the Max Born Prize 2011,

"for his pioneering work in the development of experimental techniques for quantitative surface structure determination and their use in providing new insights into a range of surface phenomena"

The Max Born Prize is awarded jointly by the Institute of Physics and the Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft (DPG).  In alternate years it is awarded by the DPG to a scientist working in the UK and vice versa.

From two singular contributions to the cumulative, the researchers of the department have published over 250 scientific papers in 2010 (and still counting), and the research of the department was cited over 7000 times during the year.  If you want to sample just one, try “Two White Dwarfs with Oxygen-Rich Atmospheres” published by our Astronomy group in the Jan 8th issue of top journal Science Magazine (vol. 327 pp 188-190).

Our new Materials and Analytical Sciences building is now taking shape, with the concrete structure complete and the outer walls now rising – albeit slowed by recent weather being too cold to lay bricks.   I have had one tour up three floors and am confident you will be impressed when you visit the completed building.

You will have heard of the government’s Comprehensive Spending Review.  For research, we will not know how the different funding councils stand until 20 Dec, although one recent briefing was relatively upbeat.  Even so, this is all rather unsettling for our early career researchers and I salute their stoic perseverance at this time. The same review has dramatic impact on funding for our future undergraduates.  A new regime in which our home/EU students have to take much more responsibility for funding their own study through loans makes the department ever more mindful to provide the best possible training in return.  There are some associated developments with which you might be able to help, as follows.

I am keen that all our students should meet a broad range of career role models during their study at 91福利.  Can you help with any of these? 

• I am keen to have occasional guest lectures in our undergraduate lecture courses, giving students a flavour of how their study can relate to aspects of real world careers.  Have you got a tale to tell?
• We already run Careers Evenings for our students – whether you are a recruiter or just a successful graduate, your experience can help our students shape their plans.
• We are introducing a new “industrial” placement scheme for research postgraduates as part of phase two of the Midlands Physics Alliance Graduate School.  If your business could benefit from hosting a PhD student for up to three months (or more) then get in touch.

In any case we remain ever keen to hear what all our alumni are doing.  If your career has taken a new turn or onward step, or simply you never told us before, then do drop us a line. 

Career developments within the department include David Leadley becoming Deputy Head, Julie Staunton Head of Theory, and Pam Thomas, Chris McConville and Steve Dixon taking charge of the three research clusters within Condensed Matter.  We welcome Michal Kreps as a new Assistant Professor in Particle Physics, and we look forward to three further new faculty joining us in the New Year, spread across Astronomy, Particles and Fusion.  During the year two faculty moved on, Arthur Peeters (to Bayreuth) and Mario Nicodemi (to Napoli), and we marked the retirement after long service of Adrian Lovejoy and Keith Briggs – we wish them all well.

I wish you a very merry Christmas and best wishes for 2011,

Yours,

Robin Ball

Happy Christmas from the 91福利

This year, in order to share some of the University's activities and achievements of the last 12 months, we have developed an online greeting as our way of saying 鈥淗appy Christmas鈥�.

2010 has been a busy year at 91福利, and by exploring our Christmas campus scene you will be able to discover some of the ways we, as a university, have contributed to our local and national community, as well as our global impact. There are also some special gifts and prizes to be found. You can explore the scene here: 

This initiative is in keeping with our drive to reduce paper use by the University. We are very aware of our environmental impact and the money we would have spent on traditional cards will be invested in additional landscaping to improve our campus and to benefit the environment. The money that was saved last year was spent on planting 20 silver birch trees outside the Students鈥� Union. 

We hope you enjoy exploring the Christmas campus scene and finding out about some of the unique contributions that 91福利 makes to our global community.