ABSTRACT

Scientific Colloquium
September 28, 2012

THE JOHN C. LINDSAY MEMORIAL LECTURE

Spiro K. Antiochos
Goddard Space Flight Center
2012 John C. Lindsay Award Winner

Alice K. Harding
Goddard Space Flight Center
2012 John C. Lindsay Award Winner

"The Structure and Dynamics of Stellar Magnetospheres"

Magnetic fields play the critical role in the coupling of stellar objects ranging from the Sun to pulsars (neutron stars) to their space environment. The fields provide the energy and the mechanisms that produce the intense electromagnetic radiation and mass flow observed with missions such as SDO and Fermi. We present recent theoretical and observational advances in understanding the magnetic extended atmospheres (magnetospheres) of the Sun and of pulsars, and show how in both cases, the structure and dynamics of the boundary region between field lines that are open (extend out to interstellar space) and closed (confined to the stellar object) are the key to understanding the star's radiation and wind. We also discuss the implications of our results for future studies of stellar magnetospheres, in general.

About the Speakers

Spiro K. Antiochos is a Research Astrophysicist in the Heliophysics Science Division at NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center. His fields of expertise include theoretical Heliophysics and plasma astrophysics. He is the developer of a number of widely-used theoretical models for the solar origins of space weather. Dr. Antiochos is a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union, American Physical Society, and Royal Astronomical Society, and winner of the Hale Prize from the American Astronomical Society.

Alice Harding has been an Astrophysicist in the Astrophysics Science Division at NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center since 1980, after receiving a Ph.D from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst in 1979. Her interests include pulsars, highly magnetized neutron stars (magnetars), amma-ray bursts and supernova remnants. She has been modeling gamma-ray pulsars for 30 years and wrote one of the first papers in this field. She is a fellow of the American Physical Society and was awarded a NASA Medal for Exceptional Scientific Achievement for her work in 1994 and 2012. Presently a member of the Fermi Large Area Telescope collaboration, she served as science coordinator for Galactic Sources from 2007 – 2009.

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