Impact of Magnetic Activity on Solar and Stellar Environments

Scope: The activity of stars, such as the Sun, modulates the environment within their astrospheres. This variable forcing is mediated via stellar magnetic fields, radiative and energetic particulate flux, stellar winds and magnetic storms. In turn this influences planetary atmospheres, climate and habitability. Studies of this intimate relationship between the parent star, its astrophere and planets that it hosts have reached a certain level of maturity within our own solar system fuelled both by advances in theoretical modelling and a host of satellites that observe the Sun-Earth system. This working group (WG) will take advantage of these recent advances in studies of the Sun and the heliosphere to explore the origin of stellar magnetic, radiative and particulate variability, understand how these affect the electromagnetic and particulate environment in their neighbourhoods and estimate the consequent forcing of planetary atmospheres. The benefits of a successful effort will impact not only the field of solar and stellar astrophysics but will also be of relevance to studies of planetary habitability, and can potentially guide future searches for Earth-like planets within habitable zones. This WG will bring together theorists, modellers and observers to coordinate and facilitate this interdisciplinary science, which will also include organizations of symposia and workshops. An online web-portal will be created to disseminate information and publications relevant to this WG. We envisage this to be an interdisciplinary, joint WG under Divisions E (Sun and Heliosphere) and Division F (Planetary Systems and Bio-astronomy) of the IAU.

Committee Members:                                                                                                                

Dibyendu Nandi (Chair, IISER Kolkata, India)

Adriana Silva-Valio (Vice-chair, Universidade Presbiteriana Mackenzie, Brazil)

Ed Cliver (Air-Force Research Lab, USA)

Hebe Cremades (Universidad Tecnologica Nacional, Argentina)

Sarah Gibson (High Altitude Observatory, USA)

Manuel Gudel (University of Vienna, Austria)

Gustavo Guerrero (Stanford University, USA)

Margit Haberreiter (Physikalisch-Meteorologisches Observatorium/WRC, Switzerland)

Emre Isik (Istanbul Kültür University, Turkey)

Jie Jiang (National Astronomical Observatories, China)

Heidi Korhonen (University of Copenhagen, Denmark)

Kanya Kusano (Nagoya University, Japan)

Piet Martens (Montana State University, USA)

Duncan Mackay (University of St Andrews, UK)

Cristina Mandrini (Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina)

Stephen Marsden (James Cook University, Australia)

Andrés Muñoz-Jaramillo (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, USA)

David Montes (Univ Complutense de Madrid, Spain)

Pascal Petit (Observatoire Midi-Pyrenées, France)

Pete Riley (Predictive Science Inc., USA)

Steve Saar (Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, USA)

Allan Sacha-Brun (CEA-Saclay, France)

David Soderblom (Space Telescope Science Institute, USA)

Ilya Usoskin (University of Oulu, Finland)

Aline Vidotto (University of St Andrews, UK)                                                                           

Anthony Yeates (University of Durham, UK)

David Webb (Boston College-ISR, USA)

Point of Contact:                                                                                                                        

Dibyendu Nandi

Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Kolkata

Mohanpur 741252, West Bengal, India

Email: dnandiAiiserkolDacDin, dnandiAcfaDharvardDedu (Replace A with @ and D with .)