A new method for forecasting solar storms has been created. He will help all of humanity

We are becoming increasingly dependent on space systems that are sensitive to space weather. Ground

grids and power grids could be severely damaged by a major solar eruption, scientists say.

Solar flares are flashes of radiation andcharged particles that can cause geomagnetic storms on Earth if they are large enough. Researchers are currently focusing on sunspots on the sun's surface to predict possible eruptions. Another and more direct sign of increased solar activity may be changes in the much weaker magnetic field of the outer solar atmosphere - in its corona.

However, there has not yet been a direct measurement of the actual magnetic fields of the solar corona.

If we can continuously monitorthese fields, we will be able to develop a method that can be compared to meteorology for space weather. This will provide vital information for our society, which is so dependent on high-tech systems in our daily lives.

Dr. Ran Xi, postdoc in joint work of Lund and Fudan Universities

The method includes what can be calledquantum mechanical interference. Since basically all information about the Sun reaches us through the "light" emitted by ions in its atmosphere, magnetic fields must be detected by measuring their effect on these ions. But the internal magnetic fields of ions are enormous - hundreds or thousands of times stronger than the fields that humans can generate even in their most advanced laboratories. Consequently, weak coronal fields leave virtually no trace, unless we can rely on a very subtle effect - interference between two "constellations" of electrons in an ion that are close - very close - in energy.

The new work is based on modern calculations,carried out in the Department of Mathematical Physics at Lund University, and in combination with experiments using a device that can be imagined as capable of producing and capturing small portions of the solar corona. This is an electron beam ion trap (EBIT) developed by Professor Roger Hutton's team at Fudan University in Shanghai.

That scientists have been able to find a way to measure the relatively weak magnetic fields found in the outer layer of the sun is a fantastic breakthrough, the scientists conclude.

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