Centre for Plasma Astrophysics (Belgium, Coordinator)

Description: The Centrum voor Plasma-Astrofysica (CPA) is part of the Dept of Mathematics of the K.U.Leuven. The research activities of the Centre for Plasma Astrophysics are situated in the domain of the plasma astrophysics with the Sun and the heliosphere as favorite research objects and regarded as a showcase (“Rosetta stone”) for plasma behavior in other astrophysical objects. Current research at the CPA includes the Magneto-HydroDynamic (MHD) and Kinetic Theory of coronal loop dynamics and coronal heating and the acceleration and heating of solar and stellar winds; the dynamics of astrophysical jets and accretion disks; fundamental plasma waves and instabilities; the numerical simulation of the initiation and the interplanetary (IP) evolution of CMEs and their shocks; the interaction of the IP magnetic clouds and shock fronts with the Earth's magnetosphere; and the observational aspects of solar flares and CMEs. The CPA is co-I on the SWAP instrument (Proba 2). The CPA currently consists of 4 staff, 13 postdoctoral researchers, and 9 PhD students. The CPA collaborates with the ROB, VKI, and BIRA in the framework of several FWO, K.U.Leuven, and ESA Prodex 9 projects. International collaborations involve the FOM-Inst. for Plasma Physics (NL), the Univ. of St.-Andrews, the Univ. of New Hampshire (USA), the Univ. of Barcelona and the IAC and eleven leading research groups in Europe (through the EU Marie-Curie Research and Training Network SOLAIRE).

This research is triggered by and will make use of observations that are (or will be) collected by instruments on satellites (SOHO, TRACE, Proba 2, Hinode, Stereo, Solar Dynamics Observatory, Solar Orbiter, and IRIS). The Centrum voor Plasma-Astrofysica (CPA/K.U.Leuven) is involved in the EU Marie Curie EU Research and Training Network "Solar Atmospheric and Interplanetary Research (SOLAIRE)" involving 13 research groups, viz. 1) Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias [IAC] established in Spain (Coordinator); 2) University of St Andrews [USTAN] established in the United Kingdom; 3) Katholieke Universiteit Leuven [KUL] established in Belgium; 4) Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen [NBI] established in Denmark; 5) Max-Planck Institut für Sonnensystemforschung [MPS] established in Germany; 6) Universitetet i Oslo [UIO] established in Norway; 7) Observatoire de Paris – Meudon [OPM] established in France; 8) Ruhr-Universität Bochum [RUB] established in Germany; 9) University of Glasgow [GLAS] established in the United Kingdom; 10) Università di Catania [UCT] established in Italy; 11) Utrecht University [UU] established in The Netherlands; 12) Eötvös University, Budapest [ELTE] established in Hungary; 13) Fluid Gravity Engineering Ltd [FGE] established in the United Kingdom (LINK to the project web page). The CPA is responsible for the Collaborative Package on "Coronal Mass Ejections and interplanetary dynamics". The CPA is also coordinator of the EU Network of Excellence SOTERIA and contributes to ESA ITT project "Solar Energetic Particle Environment Modelling (SEPEM)", a collaboration between: 1) BIRA (Belgian Institute for Space Aeronomy, coordinator: Dr. N. Crosby); 2) QinetiQ (UK); 3) Univ. Southampton (UK); 4) Univ. Barcelona (Spain); and 5) K.U.Leuven. Moreover, S. Poedts is a co-investigator in the recently approved NASA SMEX mission Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) that will be launched in 2012 and has a broad international context with a well-coordinated observational program (incl. Hinode data), and Co-I of the Proba 2 mission research project "SIDC Data Exploration - SDE" (ESA PRODEX 9 project). The current project proposal thus fits perfectly in the activities of the CPA.

Role of the team in the network: Our team has a major role to play especially in the computational and theoretical (mathematical modeling) aspects of the project and will greatly benefit from the observational and implementation expertise of other project partners. We will further develop the necessary mathematical modeling tools and advise on and provide training for the use of our state-of-the-art codes and, more generally, will act as reference persons for all project-wide computational issues. On the other hand, our extended experience in both MHD and kinetic theory will permit an important involvement in almost all project tasks, with special dedication to the solar wind and CME modeling efforts.