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The solar wind: acceleration mechanisms, turbulence and heating

The study of mass loss from the Sun due to the solar wind relies principally on observations from space, both "remote-sensing", using instruments for UV and EUV
images of the solar disk and white light and UV coronographs, as well as via "in situ" measurements of characteristic parameters (velocity, magnetic and electric field, density, temperature). The measurements are necessarily supported by the analysis of theoretical models and by the comparison with the results of high precision numerical simulations.
The Italian community is constantly involved in all the phases of the above mentioned study, both in the development of instruments on-board satellites and numerical codes, as well as data analysis and theoretical modeling. The magnetic turbulence in the solar wind has a decisive influence on the processes that transport energetic particles into interplanetary space. In turn, the transport influences the acceleration processes, like stochastic acceleration and so-called "diffusive shock acceleration".

Lake Como Schools on Astrophysics, Cosmology and Gravitation

Jul 08, 2025

Lake Como Schools on Astrophysics, Cosmology and Gravitation It has been held at Como – Villa del Grumello, 23-27 June, the 2025 edition of the “Lake Como Schools on Astrophysics, Cosmology and Gravitation” on the theme “Dark Matter, Dark Energy and the Cosmological Tensions”

The Lucchin Schools Return

Jun 01, 2025

The Lucchin Schools Return First Edition of the New INAF PhD School Series Concludes in Asiago

MISTRAL, a wind of change in the SRT observations

May 29, 2025

MISTRAL, a wind of change in the SRT observations MISTRAL is a new-generation receiver for observations at millimeter wavelengths, built as part of the recent project to upgrade the Sardinia Radio Telescope for the study of the high-frequency radio universe. The main features of this instrument are the very high number of detectors cooled to temperatures close to absolute zero and a dedicated cold optical system, which allow for extremely sharp images. MISTRAL made its “first light” by observing three different celestial objects: the Orion Nebula, the radio lobes of the supermassive black hole in the galaxy M87, and the supernova remnant Cassiopeia A. These images represent the first scientific observations at 90 GHz ever obtained using the SRT