Abstract Details
| Name: Divya Oberoi Affiliation: NCRA-TIFR, Pune Conference ID: ASI2019_392 Title : Exploring the Sun using the Murchison Widefield Array Authors and Co-Authors : Divya Oberoi Abstract Type : Poster Abstract Category : Sun and the Solar System Abstract : The diagnostic ability of solar radio observations, especially at low radio frequencies (< 300 MHz) have long been recognized. Much of this emission arises at the low to mid coronal heights, which are not easily accessible in other wavebands. The emission mechanisms involved are sensitive, among other things, to the local magnetic fields, providing the possibility of direct measurement of (average) coronal magnetic fields. The nonthermal emission mechanisms involved give rise to coherent emissions, producing very large observational signatures and enabling studies of processes involving much lower energies than what is possible at higher wavebands. Low-radio frequency observations tend to show a lot more variability, even during what is conventionally regarded at quiet times, demonstrating the sensitivity of these observations to phenomena not yet seen at other frequencies. In spite their obvious utility, the use of radio observations in the solar physics community has remained comparatively limited. A large part of the reason is that solar radio observations are very challenging, and till recently, our instrumentation was not a good match to the needs of solar imaging. The new generation of instruments, like the Murchison Widefield Array (MWA), have benefited from the enormous advances in technology and represent a quantum leap in our ability to gather data suitable for solar physics. We have been working on systematically developing a deeper understanding of these data and the necessary software tools required for their analyses. Our work is now enabling interesting science science results in areas ranging from looking for evidence for weak nonthermal emissions to studying coronal magnetic fields. I will present some science highlights from our work, and summarize our current status and future plans. |