Fragmented energy release in sun and stars : the interface between MHD and plasma physics : proceedings of a workshop on the occasion of the 350th anniversary of the Astronomical Institute Utrecht, held in Utrecht, the Netherlands, 18-21 October 1993

Magnetic energy release plays an important role in a wide variety of cosmic objects such as the Sun, stellar coronae, stellar and galactic accretion disks and pulsars. The observed radio, X-ray and gamma-ray emission often directly results from magnetic `flares', implying that these processes are spatially fragmented and of an impulsive nature. A true understanding of these processes requires a combined magnetohydrodynamical and plasma physical approach. __Fragmented Energy____Release in Sun and Stars: the Interface between MHD and Plasma Physics__ provides a comprehensive, interdisciplinary summary of magnetic energy release in the Sun and stars, in accretion disks, in pulsar magnetospheres and in laboratory plasmas. These proceedings include papers on both theoretical and observational aspects. __Fragmented Energy Release in Sun and Stars: the Interface between MHD____and Plasma Physics__ is for researchers in the fields of solar physics, stellar astrophysics and (laboratory) plasma physics and is a useful resource book for graduate level astrophysics courses. Front Matter....Pages i-xviii Front Matter....Pages 1-1 Coronal Heating by Dissipation of Magnetic Structure....Pages 3-14 Reconnective Release of Magnetic Energy in Astrophysical Plasmas....Pages 15-28 Energy Release in Double Layers....Pages 29-38 Theory of Fragmented Energy Release in the Sun....Pages 39-50 Alfvén Wave Heating....Pages 51-62 Low Frequency Turbulence and Energy Dissipation in the Solar Wind....Pages 63-74 Dynamic Behavior and Topology of 3D Magnetic Fields....Pages 75-80 Detailed Magnetic Structure and Stochastic Threshold....Pages 81-86 Current Dissipation within the Chromosphere-Corona Transition....Pages 87-92 Spatial Fragmentation of Solar Flare Plasma and Beams....Pages 93-96 Nanoflares and Current Sheet Dissipation....Pages 97-102 3D Nonlinear Wave Heating of Coronal Loops....Pages 103-108 Nonlinear Dust Alfvén Modes....Pages 109-114 The Role of Vorticity in 3D Magnetic Field Annihilation....Pages 115-116 Particle Orbits Near a Neutral Point....Pages 117-118 Electron Beam Propagation in the Solar Corona....Pages 119-120 MHD Waves in Coronal Flux Tubes....Pages 121-124 Heating of the Solar Corona by Alfvén Wave Envelopes....Pages 125-128 Observational Support of Reconnection in Solar Flares....Pages 129-130 Studies of Anomalous Potential Drops Due to Ion Density Inhomogeneities....Pages 131-132 Front Matter....Pages 133-133 Observations of Fragmented Energy Release....Pages 135-147 Imaging Diagnostics of Solar Non-Thermal Particles....Pages 149-158 Cyclotron Masers and Solar Spike Bursts....Pages 159-170 Chaos Theory and Radio Emission....Pages 171-184 On Deterministic Chaos, Stationarity, Periodicity and Intermittency in Coronal Bursts and Flares....Pages 185-192 Periodic or Random Acceleration in Solar Flares ?....Pages 193-198 Radio Emission from Quasi-Parallel Shock Waves in the Corona....Pages 199-203 Microwave Burst of November 17, 1991: Evidence of Fragmented Particle Injection into a Coronal Loop....Pages 205-210 Evidence for a Common Source of Fragmented Decimeter Emission and Meter Wave Type II Bursts in Some Solar Type IV Bursts....Pages 211-216 Thermal and Nonthermal Flare Emission Observed with the Nobeyama Radio Heliograph....Pages 217-224 Thermal Cyclotron Radiation from a Hot Coronal Loop with Helical Magnetic Field....Pages 225-231 Fine Scale Temporal Structures in Solar Hard X-Ray Bursts Observed by Phebus....Pages 233-238 Modelling Particle Transport with Stochastic Simulations....Pages 239-242 Transition Radio Emission of Mildly Relativistic Particles....Pages 243-244 Analysis of Solar Spike Events By Means of Symbolic Dynamics Methods....Pages 245-246 Multiple Frequency Spike Emission During Solar Flares....Pages 247-248 Radio Evidence of Long Lasting Release of Nonthermal Energy in the Solar Corona....Pages 249-250 SSRT: First Results of Millisecond Spike Observations....Pages 251-252 Discrete Energy Release in Microwave Emission in the Preflare Stage....Pages 253-254 Microwave Spectrum Analysis as Solar Energy Release Diagnostics....Pages 255-257 Front Matter....Pages 259-259 Stellar Flares....Pages 261-274 Radiation-Driven Diskons: An Overview....Pages 275-289 First Millimetric Detections of AE Aquarii....Pages 291-292 Variability and Origin of Permanent Radio Emission in RS CVn and Algol Type Binaries....Pages 293-296 Front Matter....Pages 297-297 Energy Release in Stellar Magnetospheres....Pages 299-307 Magnetic Energy Release Near Accreting Black Holes....Pages 309-320 Dissipation of Magnetic Fields in Active Galactic Nuclei....Pages 321-327 Distribution and Flow of Magnetic Energy in an Accretion Disk....Pages 329-330 Slender Fluxtubes in Accretion Disks....Pages 331-332 A Magnetic Explanation for the Rapid Burster....Pages 333-334 Front Matter....Pages 335-335 Electric Gaps in Pulsar Magnetospheres....Pages 337-348 Radiative Properties of Pulsar Magnetospheres....Pages 349-355 Pulsar Radio Emission....Pages 357-362 Pair Creation in Double Layers....Pages 363-364 Linear Acceleration Emission in a Strong Electric Field....Pages 365-368 Front Matter....Pages 369-369 Closing Address....Pages 371-375 Back Matter....Pages 377-378 Magnetic energy release plays an important role in a wide variety of cosmic objects such as the Sun, stellar coronae, stellar and galactic accretion disks and pulsars. The observed radio, X-ray and gamma-ray emission often directly results from magnetic `flares', implying that these processes are spatially fragmented and of an impulsive nature. A true understanding of these processes requires a combined magnetohydrodynamical and plasma physical approach. Fragmented Energy Release in Sun and Stars: the Interface between MHD and Plasma Physics provides a comprehensive, interdisciplinary summary of magnetic energy release in the Sun and stars, in accretion disks, in pulsar magnetospheres and in laboratory plasmas. These proceedings include papers on both theoretical and observational aspects. Fragmented Energy Release in Sun and Stars: the Interface between MHD and Plasma Physics is for researchers in the fields of solar physics, stellar astrophysics and (laboratory) plasma physics and is a useful resource book for graduate level astrophysics courses.