DKIST – New Horizons in Solar Physics

The Sun provides a working example where magnetically driven structures and dynamics can be studied over an enormous range of spatial and temporal scales. While we are only able to catch glimpses of these phenomena in other astrophysical objects, the Sun provides a vantage point where the complex interplay between the plasma and the magnetic field can be studied continuously and with unprecedented detail. The Daniel K Inouye Solar Telescope, constructed with funds provided by the US National Science Foundation, is a revolutionary facility for solar physics. It will operate in the visible and near infrared and be the pre-eminent ground-based solar telescope for the foreseeable future. Key advances in its instrumentation include ultra-high spatial (25 km on the solar surface), temporal (millisecond) resolution, imaging spectroscopy and coronal magnetometry. The talk will summarise the scientific capabilities of DKIST with emphasis on small-scale structures.

Mihalis received his degree in Physics from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in Greece and his PhD from Queen’s University Belfast (QUB) in Northern Ireland. He worked as a Research Astronomer at the Centre for Extreme Ultraviolet Astrophysics at the University of California Berkeley before appointed as a lecturer at QUB. He was promoted to Professor in 2008. He is currently the Head of Astrophysics Research at QUB. Mihalis research interests are in the field of solar and stellar astrophysics. He has authored more that 180 refereed publications and has supervised 16 PhD students to completion. He was the project scientist for the Rapid Oscillations in the Solar Atmosphere imager that is installed at the Dunn Solar Telescope in New Mexico USA. More recently, he led the development of the detectors for the Daniel K Inouye Solar Telescope. Mihalis was the chairperson for UK Solar Physics and is currently the vice president of the European Association of Solar Telescopes. His teaching portofolio includes lectures in mathematics for scientists and engineers, radiative transfer in astrophysics, the supervision of undergraduate laboratory work and final year dissertation projects.