Atacama Large Aperture Submillimeter Telescope (AtLAST) Science: Solar and stellar observations
Observations at (sub-)millimeter wavelengths offer a complementary perspective on our Sun and other stars, offering significant insights into both the thermal and magnetic composition of their chromospheres. Despite the fundamental progress in (sub-)millimeter observations of the Sun, some important...
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Zusammenfassung: | Observations at (sub-)millimeter wavelengths offer a complementary
perspective on our Sun and other stars, offering significant insights into both
the thermal and magnetic composition of their chromospheres. Despite the
fundamental progress in (sub-)millimeter observations of the Sun, some
important aspects require diagnostic capabilities that are not offered by
existing observatories. In particular, simultaneous observations of the
radiation continuum across an extended frequency range would facilitate the
mapping of different layers and thus ultimately the 3D structure of the solar
atmosphere. Mapping large regions on the Sun or even the whole solar disk at a
very high temporal cadence would be crucial for systematically detecting and
following the temporal evolution of flares, while synoptic observations, i.e.,
daily maps, over periods of years would provide an unprecedented view of the
solar activity cycle in this wavelength regime. As our Sun is a fundamental
reference for studying the atmospheres of active main sequence stars, observing
the Sun and other stars with the same instrument would unlock the enormous
diagnostic potential for understanding stellar activity and its impact on
exoplanets. The Atacama Large Aperture Submillimeter Telescope (AtLAST), a
single-dish telescope with 50\,m aperture proposed to be built in the Atacama
desert in Chile, would be able to provide these observational capabilities.
Equipped with a large number of detector elements for probing the radiation
continuum across a wide frequency range, AtLAST would address a wide range of
scientific topics including the thermal structure and heating of the solar
chromosphere, flares and prominences, and the solar activity cycle. In this
white paper, the key science cases and their technical requirements for AtLAST
are discussed. |
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DOI: | 10.48550/arxiv.2403.00920 |