Speaker
Description
The Sun is the most powerful particle accelerator in our solar system, releasing up to 1025 joules of energy during explosive events known as solar flares. In the solar corona, electrons and ions are accelerated to nearly the speed of light, either descending into the dense solar atmosphere or escaping into interplanetary space. Despite our close proximity to the Sun and the extensive data gathered from ground and space-based telescopes for more than 80 years, numerous questions remain about the physics of solar particle acceleration and the mechanisms by which these particles transfer their energy to the plasma in the solar system. This presentation will give an overview of solar particle acceleration and transport, highlighting our current understanding and identifying its limitations, discussing the astrophysical analogue, and exploring how new solar instrumentation will usher in a new era of insight.
