The autumn's first Felleskollokvium will be arranged September 20. We hope both students and staff will attend.
This year's Birkeland lecturer, Prof. Rickard Lundin (CV, pdf), visits the department and will present a popular science lecture on "Plasma Acceleration Processes in Cosmos". The lecture is given in English.
We first serve a modest lunch with rolls and drinks from 12:00 to 12.15. This is followed by a few words from our head of department, before the lecture starts.
Abstract: Plasma Acceleration Processes in Cosmos
Rickard Lundin, Swedish Institute of Space Physics
Following the launch of Sputnik 1 in October 1958, space plasma physics specifically space plasma acceleration processes has made major advances during the last 60 years. The key to these achievements was the possibility to probe space plasma in-situ - to study acceleration processes where they occurwith instruments specially designed for local probing of space plasma.
Of the numerous scientific achievements made, this presentation will focus on just a few, those that may have the highest impact for understanding what Hannes Alfvén referred to as the "Plasma Universe".
The themes to be addressed are:
(1) Charged particle acceleration in the Earth's magnetosphere.
(2) Theories for space plasma acceleration (a) From-what specific regions, acceleration energies, and related to this
(3) The importance of magnetic fields and how it affects acceleration processes in space plasmas. The latter based on experimental data in the near planetary environment of the solar system.