This award will provide partial support for the California State University Northridge to host the International Astronomical (IAU) Symposium 273 on the "Physics of Sun and Star Spots." The aim of the conference is to bring together researchers in solar and stellar physics, who will discuss studies of the long term evolution of stellar magnetism and the origin of the spot phenomenon.
Invited speakers will be selected by the scientific organizing committee from the pool of scientists working in the field of stellar and solar magnetism and activity around the world. The speaker roster will include both established and young researchers. Contributed talks will be given by graduate students and post-doctoral fellows. The results of the conference will be published as part of the series of Symposia of the International Astronomical Union.
The NSF award provided partial funding to support the International Astronomical (IAU) Symposium 273 on the "Physics of the Sun and Star Spots", which took place in Ventura, California, on August, 23-26 2010, and was organized by the Department of Physics and Astronomy at California State University Northridge (CSUN). In spite of more than three decades of vigorous observational and theoretical research on solar magnetic fields, the understanding of the mechanisms governing the origin and decay of sunspots is far from complete. Indeed, the delay of the onset of the current solar activity cycle came as a complete surprise to solar physicists. While sunspots are thoroughly studied objects, spots on other stars remain poorly understood. Combining the two fields of research is mutually beneficial since solar investigations can gain insight from the long term evolution of stellar magnetism, and stellar research can gain insight into the roots of the spot phenomenon. The IAU Symposium 273 brought together about 130 participants from around the world, including some of the lead researchers in solar and stellar astronomy. The talks and poster sessions as well as the informal discussions permitted the exchange of ideas, which will eventually contribute to the long term goal of developing a unified understanding of spot phenomena and magnetism in the Sun and stars by combining the two fields of research. The proceedings of the symposium were published in 2011 by Cambridge University Press as: "Physics of Sun and Star Spots", eds. D.P. Choudhary, and K.G. Strassmeier. The NSF award provided travel grants for students, including five from CSUN, and post-doctoral fellows from USA Universities, who otherwise would not have been able to attend the symposium. This offered them an invaluable opportunity to present results of their work and to interact with established researchers in the field. Activities like this one directly contribute to the training and retention of a new generation of scientists.
