Recent Talks

(1) In a recently published differential analysis (see Fabbian et al) we have derived abundance corrections for iron lines, using synthetic spectra from solar magneto-convection simulations that were performed via running the Copenhagen stagger-code on massively-parallel clusters. The series of 3D snapshots used for the spectral synthesis covers 2.5 solar hours in the statistically stationary regime of the convection. Crucially, we show that the effect of magnetic fields on solar abundance determinations cannot be neglected. This is equally valid for all three different Fe abundance indicators which we have studied, though the sign of the abundance correction changes depending on the interplay of the magnetic-sensitivity of the spectral line under consideration and of temperature structure variations.
Interestingly, for two of the abundance indicators (respectively, at 608.27nm and 624.07 nm) that were used in Asplund et al's analysis and that we also included in our investigation, the presence of a magnetic field has a predominantly indirect (i.e., due to temperature changes between MHD and HD models) effect, leading to positive abundance corrections (since the final equivalent width of those Fe I lines is found to decrease with increasing magnetic flux). The direct magnetic effect due to Zeeman broadening dominates instead for the 1564.85 nm absorption line, causing for it increasingly negative abundance corrections when making the initially implanted magnetic flux larger.

(2) A new three-dimensional model of the solar photosphere is presented in this paper and made publicly available to the community. This model has the peculiarity that it has been obtained by inverting spectro-polarimetric observations, rather than from numerical radiation hydrodynamical simulations. The data used here are from the spectro-polarimeter on-board the Hinode satellite, which routinely delivers Stokes I, Q, U and V profiles in the 6302 Å spectral region with excellent quality, stability and spatial resolution (approximately 0.3''). With such spatial resolution, the major granular components are well resolved, which implies that the derived model needs no micro- or macro-turbulence to properly fit the widths of the observed spectral lines. Not only this model fits the observed data used for its construction, but it can also fit previous solar atlas observations satisfactorily.

The distribution of matter in galaxies of different luminosities and Hubble types, as inferred from observations, plays an important role in cosmology, extragalactic astrophysics, astroparticle physics, as well as in a number of issues in high-energy astrophysics, galactic astronomy, star formation and evolution and general relativity. Not withstanding the general successes of the ΛCDM model in explaining the structure and evolution of the universe, there is a growing conviction that the structural properties of the dark and luminous components in galaxies hold important clues about the nature of dark matter and about the processes that are responsible for galaxy formation. This talk is part of an international initiative known as "Dark Matter Awareness Week".The overall purpose of this event is to increase the awareness of the phenomenology of the mass discrepancy phenomenon in galaxies amongst the many scientists currently working with a theoretical, observational, experimental and simulation approach on issues involving dark matter or its alternatives. The content of the talk will be at the level of a journal club talk with an important dose of review.

In this talk I will summarise the events that led to the discovery of the first four pulsars, recount several instances where pulsars were almost discovered and reflect on what lessons we might draw from these stories.

CANARY is a technical demonstrator for the proposed EAGLE instrument for European ELT. EAGLE will have twenty Integral Field Units patrolling a 5 arcminute field and requires a new form of adaptive optics to provide the required image quality for its 0.0375 arcsec image sampling: Laser Guide Star Multi-Object AO. This entails several significant technical innovations: open-loop control, atmospheric tomography, and new calibration methods. The CANARY demonstrator is currently in its first, natural guide star, phase, and the first results have been obtained on sky. CANARY Phase A is described and the first results are presented. The next, laser guide star, phase is then outlined.

Fibrils are thin elongated features visible in the solar chromosphere in and around magnetized regions. Because of their visual appearance they have been traditionally considered a tracer of the magnetic field lines. In this work we challenge that notion for the first time by comparing their orientation to that of the magnetic field, obtained via high-resolution spectro-polarimetric observations of Ca II lines. The short answer to the question posed in the title is that mostly yes, but not always.