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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".

MeerKAT+: the MeerKAT Extension

Feb 21, 2024

MeerKAT+: the MeerKAT Extension The handover of the first dish of the MeerKAT extension signals an important milestone for the SKA-MID construction

The first discoveries of the Webb space telescope in Rome: public lecture on 29 February

Feb 21, 2024

The first discoveries of the Webb space telescope in Rome: public lecture on 29 February On Thursday 29 February at 6 pm, Prof. Roberto Maiolino of the University of Cambridge (UK) will hold a public lecture on the theme "The invisible Universe revealed by the James Webb Space Telescope" at the Department of Physics of Sapienza University of Rome

The AGILE satellite re-entered the atmosphere

Feb 14, 2024

The AGILE satellite re-entered the atmosphere After 17 years of thriving operations, the AGILE Italian scientific satellite re-entered the atmosphere, thus ending its intense activity as a hunter of some of the most energetic cosmic sources in the Universe that emit gamma and X-rays