CMEs are large-scale magnetized plasma structures carrying billions of tons of material that erupt from a star and propagate in the stellar heliosphere, interacting in multiple ways with the stellar wind. Due to the high speed, intrinsic magnetic field and the increased plasma density compared to the stellar wind background, CMEs can produce strong effects on planetary environments when they collide with a planet. The main planetary impact factors of CMEs, are associated interplanetary shocks, energetic particles accelerated in the shock regions, and the magnetic field disturbances. All these factors should be taken into account during the study of evolutionary processes on exoplanets and their atmospheric and plasma environments. CME activity of a star may vary depending on stellar age, stellar spectral type and the orbital distance of a planet. Because of relatively short range of propagation of majority of CMEs, they impact most strongly the magnetospheres and atmospheres of close orbit (< 0.1 AU) exoplanets.

Recent observations by Jensen et al. of Hα absorption by the upper atmosphere of HD189733b have motivated the need for a theoretical understanding of the distribution of n=2 hydrogen within hot Jupiter atmospheres. With this in mind, we model the n=2 state of atomic hydrogen in a hydrostatic atmosphere in thermal and photoionization equilibrium. Both collisional and radiative transitions are included in the calculation of the n = 2 state level population. In our model, the Hα absorption is dominated by a τ ~ 1 shell composed of metastable 2s hydrogen located within the neutral atomic layer, with the contribution coming roughly uniformly throughout the layer instead of from a specific impact parameter. An ionization rate an order of magnitude over the expected value can reproduce the observed transit depth.

This work investigates the density of in-falling prominence material following the 7th June 2011 eruption. Both the evolution and the distribution of the density is analysed in five discreet “blobs” of material. The density appears to be remarkably uniform, both spatially within the blobs, and temporally over the course of the descent of each, although a slight concentration of material towards the leading edge is noted in some cases. Online material is available at bit.ly/jackblob

Cold debris disks have the potential to answer many outstanding questions in wide-orbit planet formation and evolution. We characterized the infrared excess SEDs of 174 cold debris disks with Spitzer IRS and MIPS. We found a trend between the temperature of the disks and the stellar type of the stars they orbit. This argues against the importance of strictly temperature-dependent processes (e.g. ice lines) in setting the dimensions of cold debris disks. We also found no evidence that delayed stirring causes the trend. The trend may result from outward planet migration that traces the extent of the primordial protoplanetary disk, or from planet formation that halts at an orbital radius limited by the efficiency of core accretion. For the full details of this work, see Ballering et al. (2013).

We show preliminary results of an ongoing investigation aimed at determining the configuration of the magnetic field vector in the threads of a quiescent hedgerow solar prominence using high-spatial resolution spectropolarimetric observations taken in the He I 1083.0 nm multiplet. The data consist of a two-dimensional map of a quiescent hedgerow prominence showing vertical threads. The observations were obtained with the Tenerife Infrared Polarimeter attached to the German Vacuum Tower Telescope at the Observatorio del Teide (Spain). The He I 1083.0 nm Stokes signals are interpreted with an inversion code, which takes into account the key physical processes that generate and/or modify circular and linear polarization signals in the He I 1083.0 nm triplet: the Zeeman effect, anisotropic radiation pumping, and the Hanle effect. We present initial results of the inversions, i.e, the strength and orientation of the magnetic field vector along the prominence and in prominence threads.

Gap formation by giant planets in self-gravitating disks may lead to a gravitational edge instability (GEI). We demonstrate this GEI with global 3D and 2D self-gravitating disk-planet simulations using the ZEUS, PLUTO and FARGO hydrodynamic codes. High resolution 2D simulations show that an unstable outer gap edge can lead to outward migration. Our results have important implications for theories of giant planet formation in massive disks.

Increasing spatial resolution and contrast capabilities will make possible new direct detections of exoplanets, exozodis, and circumstellar disks. The Large Binocular Telescope Interferometer (LBTI) has been engineered to sit at the combined focus of the Large Binocular Telescope's two 8.4m apertures. Both apertures are equipped with 672-actuator deformable secondary mirrors, the first of the next generation of “extreme” adaptive optics (AO) systems. We present an overview of the LBTI AO instrument suite and detail current on-sky performance.

In earlier work, we demonstrated the in-situ formation of a quiescent prominence in a sheared magnetic arcade by chromospheric evaporation and thermal instability in a multi-dimensional MHD model. Here, we improve our setup and reproduce the formation of a curtain-like prominence from first principles, while showing the coexistence of the growing, large-scale prominence with short-lived dynamic coronal rain in overlying loops. When the localized heating is gradually switched off, the central prominence expands laterally beyond the range of its self-created magnetic dips and falls down along the arched loops. The dipped loops recover their initially arched shape and the prominence plasma drains to the chromosphere completely.

Chinese Giant Solar Telescope is the next generation ground-based solar telescope. The main science task of this telescope is to observe the ultra fine structures of the solar magnetic field and dynamic field. Due to the advantages in polarization detection and thermal controlling with a symmetrical circular system, the current design of CGST is a 6~8 meter circular symmetrical telescope. The results of simulations and analysis showed that the current design could meet the demands of most science cases not only in infrared bands but also in near infrared bands and even in visible bands. The prominences and the filaments are very important science cases of CGST. The special technologies for prominence observation will be developed, including the day time laser guide star and MCAO. CGST is proposed by all solar observatories and several institutes and universities in China. It is supported by CAS and NSFC (National Natural Science Foundation of China) as a long term astronomical project.

The irradiation instability is a disk instability caused by the radiation pressure cast by a central source onto an optically thick disk. The criterion for this instability depends on a sharp transition from an optically thin inner disk to an optically thick outer disk. The quickly diminishing radiation pressure in this transition region creates a radially compressing effect, which is in many ways similar to the effects of self-gravity. In this modal analysis, we demonstrate that a disk marginally stable to irradiation can develop global modes, with growth rates being of order the dynamical timescale of the disk. The non-linear evolution of the our model shows the formation of vortices near the transition region and spiral structures propagating into the optically thick region. Consequently the scale-height of our disk's inner edge becomes time-variable and can likely be observed as a variation in its infrared flux.

We study the photometric variability of a pre-main sequence star (K6, 0.9M⊙) CHXR 20. We test several scenarios for the variability including variable accretion, variable extinction, cool and hot spots on the stellar surface and the presence of a potential companion.

We review here the current status and the latest results of the modelling of quiescent prominence fine structures. We begin with the simulations of the prominence magnetic field configurations, through an overview of the modelling of the fine structure formation and dynamics, and with the emphasis on the radiative transfer modelling of the realistic prominence fine structures. We also illuminate the future directions of the field that lie in the combining of the existing approaches into more complex multi-disciplinary models.

There are faint contaminants near primary stars in the direct imaging of exoplanets. Our goal is to estimate statistically the ratio of exoplanets in the detected batch of point sources by calculating the fraction of contamination. In this study, we compared the detected number of stars with the number of contaminants predicted by our model. We found that the observed number of faint stars were fewer than the predicted results towards the Pleiades and GOODS-South field when the parameters of the conventional stellar distribution models were employed. We thus estimated new model parameters in correspondence to the results of the observations.

Chondrite meteorites are the building blocks of the solar nebula, out of which our Solar System formed. They are a mixture of silicate and oxide objects (chondrules and refractory inclusions) that experienced very high temperatures, set in a matrix that remained cold. Their prevalence suggests that they formed through a very general process, closely related to stellar and planet formation. However the nature and properties of the responsible mechanism have remained unclear. The evidence for a hot solar nebula provided by this material seems at odds with astrophysical observations of forming stars. These indicate that the typical temperatures of protostellar disks are too low to melt and vapourise silicate minerals at the radial distances sampled by chondrule-bearing meteorites. Here, we show that processing of precursors in a protostellar outflow at radial distances of about 1 – 3 AU can heat them to their melting points and explain their basic properties, while retaining association with the colder matrix.

Employing six-day (August 16-21, 2010) SDO/AIA observations, we systematically investigate the formation and disappearance of 58 barbs of a northern (~N60) polar crown filament. Three different ways of barb formation are discovered, including (1) the convergence of surrounding moving materials (55.2%), (2) the flows of materials from the filament (37.9%), and (3) the material injections from neighboring brightening regions (6.9%). We also find three different types of barb disappearance, involving: (i) the bi-lateral movements (44.8%), and (ii) the outflowing (27.6%) of barb material resulting in the barb disappearance, as well as (iii) the barb disappearance associated with neighboring brightenings (27.6%). We propose that barbs exchange materials with the filament, surrounding atmosphere, and nearby brightening regions, causing the barb formation and disappearance.

We present preliminary astrometric results aimed at understanding the lifetime of circumstellar disks and potential for planet formation. We have obtained parallaxes to stars in the TW Hydrae, Upper Scorpius, and Chamaeleon I stellar associations. These enable new estimates for the ages of the stars. We are also performing the Carnegie Astrometric Planet Search of nearby low mass stars for gas giant planets on wide orbits. We have our first candidate around a mature brown dwarf.

The Gemini Planet Imager (GPI) is a high contrast coronagraph designed to directly image exoplanets and circumstellar disks. GPI includes a polarimetry mode designed to characterize dust grains and enhance the contrast of scattered, polarized light by a factor of 100. Reflections and birefringence of optics within the optical train induce a polarization signature that needs to be measured a priori and calibrated out during data reduction. Here we report on the results of an extensive laboratory characterization campaign of the polarimetry mode. The linear instrumental polarization has been measured in 4 GPI passbands and found to be between 3.5 ± 0.3 % at 1.0 micron and 1.1 ± 0.3 % at 2.0 microns. Modulation efficiency has been measured to be 94% at 1.0 micron increasing to 97% at 2.0 microns. Stability has been shown to better than 0.6% over timescales of ~ 3 months and over cool down cycles. The tests show that GPI passes all polarimetry design requirements and should be able to measure circumstellar disk linear polarization to 1% accuracy.

This article comments on the results of a new, rapid, and flexible manual method to map on-disk individual coronal loops of a two-dimensional EUV image into the three-dimensional coronal loops. The method by Gary, Hu, and Lee (2013) employs cubic Bézier splines to map coronal loops using only four free parameters per loop. A set of 2D splines for coronal loops is transformed to the best 3D pseudo-magnetic field lines for a particular coronal model. The results restrict the magnetic field models derived from extrapolations of magnetograms to those admissible and inadmissible via a fitness parameter. This method uses the minimization of the misalignment angles between the magnetic field model and the best set of 3D field lines that match a set of closed coronal loops. We comment on the implication of the fitness parameter in connection with the magnetic free energy and comment on extensions of our earlier work by considering the issues of employing open coronal loops or employing partial coronal loop.

Blowout jets constitute about 50% of the total number of X-ray jets observed in polar coronal holes. In these events, the base magnetic loop is supposed to blow open in what is a scaled-down representation of two-ribbon flares that accompany major coronal mass ejections (CMEs): indeed, miniature CMEs resulting from blowout jets have been observed. This raises the question of the possible contribution of this class of events to the solar wind mass and energy flux. Here we make a first crude evaluation of the mass contributed to the wind and of the energy budget of the jets and related miniature CMEs, under the assumption that small-scale events behave as their large-scale analogs. This hypothesis allows us to adopt the same relationship between jets and miniature-CME parameters that have been shown to hold in the larger-scale events, thus inferring the values of the mass and kinetic energy of the miniature CMEs, currently not available from observations. We conclude our work estimating the mass flux and the energy budget of a blowout jet, and giving a crude evaluation of the role possibly played by these events in supplying the mass and energy that feeds the solar wind.