Meyer-Vernet N. Basics of the Solar Wind

New York: Cambridge University Press. – 2007. – 463 p. The Sun continually ejects matter into space, blowing a huge bubble of supersonic plasma: the solar wind, which engulfs the Earth and the other planets, shaping their environments.
Basics of the Solar Wind presents a modern introduction to the subject, starting with basic principles and including the latest advances from space exploration and theory. The book discusses the structure of the solar interior and atmosphere, the production of the solar wind, and its perturbations. It addresses the basic physics of the objects of the Solar System, from dust to comets and planets, and their interaction with the solar wind. The final sections explore the subject from an astrophysical point of view, including the interaction with the interstellar medium, cosmic rays and winds from other stars. The book contains a historical survey and a short introduction to plasma physics.
This volume is the first to present a comprehensive basic coverage of this subject. The topics are discussed at various levels of difficulty, by including qualitative as well as quantitative treatments and emphasising physical processes rather than mathematics or observation. This book will appeal to students and researchers in physics, astronomy, space physics and engineering, geophysics and atmospheric sciences.The wind from the Sun: an introduction
A brief history of ideas
Looking at the Sun
Observing the solar windTool kit for space plasma physics
What is a plasma?
Dynamics of a charged particle
Many particles: from kinetics to magnetohydrodynamics
Basic tools for ionisation
ProblemsAnatomy of the Sun
An (almost) ordinary star
Structure and dynamics
Some guesses on solar magnetism
ProblemsThe outer solar atmosphere
From the photosphere to the corona
Force balance and magnetic structures
Energy balance
Some prominent species
Time variability
Coronal heating: boojums at work?
Hydrostatic instability of the corona
ProblemsHow does the solar wind blow?
Simple fluid theory
Letting the temperature vary
A mixture of fluids
Kinetic descriptions
Building a ‘full’ theory?
ProblemsStructure and perturbations
Basic large-scale magnetic field
Three-dimensional structure during the solar cycle
Major perturbations
Waves and turbulence
Minor constituents
ProblemsBodies in the wind: dust, asteroids, planets and comets
Bodies in the wind
Basics of the interaction
The magnetospheric engine
Physics of heliospheric dust grains
Comets
ProblemsThe solar wind in the Universe
The frontier of the heliosphere
Cosmic rays
Examples of winds in the Universe
Problems
Instability of a star’s atmosphere produced by radiation pressureAppendix