Alan M. Title

My primary research interest is the generation, distribution, and effects of the solar magnetic field throughout the Sun's interior and outer atmosphere. This research has largely been experimental and has involved development of new instrumentation for use on the ground and in space. Using spectral imaging techniques we can map both horizontal and vertical flows in the solar interior and surface. Flow maps have shown among other things how the solar interior rotates as a function of radius. This profile is essential for any understanding of interior magnetic field generation - dynamo action. Magnetic fields can be measured in the photosphere and inferred in the interior and outer atmosphere. Using these techniques it has been discovered that magnetic field emerges everywhere on the solar surface at a rate sufficient to completely replace the fields outside of active regions in less than a day, and even active region fields are replaced in at most a few weeks. The energy associated with the observed rate of replacement of field is sufficient to heat the Corona and Chromosphere. The detailed mechanisms by which magnetic energy is released is currently the focus of my research.