Heliophysics is a developing scientific discipline integrating studies of the Sun's variability, the surrounding heliosphere, and climatic environments. Over the past few centuries, our understanding of how the Sun drives space weather and climate on the Earth and other planets has advanced at an ever-increasing rate. This volume, the first in a series of three heliophysics texts, integrates such diverse topics for the first time as a coherent intellectual discipline. It emphasizes the physical processes coupling the Sun and Earth, allowing insights into the interaction of the solar wind and radiation with the Earth's magnetic field, atmosphere and climate system. It provides a core resource for advanced undergraduates and graduates, and also constitutes a foundational reference for researchers in heliophysics, astrophysics, plasma physics, space physics, solar physics, aeronomy, space weather, planetary science and climate science. Additional online resources, including lecture presentations and other teaching materials, are accessible at www.cambridge.org/9780521110617.

Preface	p. ix
Prologue	p. 1
A voyage through the local cosmos	p. 1
Magnetic field: a unifying force within heliophysics	p. 15
The three-volume series	p. 19
Additional resources	p. 19
Editors' note	p. 20
Introduction to heliophysics	p. 21
Preamble	p. 21
What is heliophysics?	p. 22
The language of heliophysics	p. 24
The creation and annihilation of magnetic field	p. 29
Magnetic coupling	p. 31
Spontaneous formation of discontinuities	p. 32
Explosive energy conversion	p. 34
Generation of penetrating radiation	p. 36
Concluding thoughts	p. 40
Creation and destruction of magnetic field	p. 42
Introduction - magnetic fields in the universe	p. 42
Magnetohydrodynamics	p. 44
The dynamo problem	p. 50
Mean-field theory	p. 57
Limitations of mean-field approximation, 3D simulations	p. 71
Magnetic field topology	p. 77
Magnetic field lines	p. 78
Regions of different topology	p. 91
Magnetic helicity	p. 99
Magnetic reconnection	p. 113
Preamble	p. 113
Basic concepts	p. 113
Reconnection in two dimensions	p. 122
Reconnection in three dimensions	p. 131
Topics for future research	p. 137
Structures of the magnetic field
Preamble	p. 139
Current sheets in cosmic plasmas	p. 140
Magnetic flux tubes	p. 145
Definition of a flux tube	p. 146
Definition of a flux rope	p. 149
Flux ropes at other planets	p. 156
Magnetic cells	p. 159
Summary	p. 161
Turbulence in space plasmas	p. 163
Preamble	p. 163
Introduction	p. 164
What observations characterize the solar wind?	p. 167
The Navier-Stokes equation and hydrodynamic turbulence	p. 172
Magnetohydrodynamic fluid turbulence	p. 176
The spectrum of interplanetary turbulence	p. 180
Non-Gaussianity in turbulent space plasmas	p. 190
Turbulence in the solar corona and solar wind acceleration	p. 191
Interstellar turbulence	p. 193
Conclusion	p. 194
The solar atmosphere	p. 195
Introduction	p. 195
The photosphere	p. 200
The high-² chromosphere	p. 204
Coronal heating	p. 212
Forward modeling of the outer solar atmosphere	p. 216
The way forward	p. 222
Stellar winds and magnetic fields	p. 225
A pocket history	p. 226
The Parker spiral	p. 228
Some solar wind properties	p. 230
A pocket history, continued	p. 231
An interlude with Alfvén waves	p. 233
The coronal helium abundance and the proton flux	p. 236
The energy budget of the solar wind	p. 238
A simple experiment	p. 240
Solar wind models that include the chromosphere	p. 243
Discussion and conclusions	p. 248
Fundamentals of planetary magnetospheres	p. 256
Introduction	p. 256
Definitions and classifications	p. 257
Interaction of solar wind with a planetary magnetic field	p. 258
Plasma flow and magnetosphere-ionosphere interaction	p. 265
Plasma sources and transport processes	p. 277
Scaling relations for magnetospheres	p. 285
Solar-wind-magnetosphere coupling: an MHD perspective	p. 295
Introduction	p. 295
Global MHD models	p. 296
The solar wind at Earth	p. 300
Magnetosheath modeling	p. 302
Forces on the magnetosphere	p. 310
Magnetospheric convection	p. 317
Energy flow in the magnetosphere	p. 320
Summary	p. 322
On the ionosphere and chromosphere	p. 324
Introduction	p. 324
Forces and flows in the neutral atmosphere	p. 325
Neutral-gas mixing, fractionation, and global circulation	p. 330
Energy input and dissipation	p. 333
Ionization fraction	p. 336
Electrodynamics	p. 337
Outstanding issues and science questions	p. 349
Comparing the Sun's chromosphere and Earth's ionosphere	p. 351
Comparative planetary environments	p. 360
Introduction	p. 360
Jupiter	p. 375
Saturn	p. 384
Uranus and Neptune	p. 388
Mercury and Ganymede	p. 390
Objects without dynamos	p. 391
Outstanding questions	p. 398
Authors and editors	p. 399
List of illustrations	p. 401
List of tables	p. 406
References	p. 407
Index	p. 428
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.

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