Prof Róbert von Fáy-Siebenbürgen

Professional Standing

Studies of linear and nonlinear resonant MHD wave heating under solar atmospheric conditions.
My major new results are:

• derivation of the generalised governing equation for resonant slow MHD waves in isotropic and anisotropic steady plasmas;
• obtaining jump conditions to connect solutions across a resonant layer. These universal connection formulae play a crucial role, similar to the Rankine-Hugoniot relations of nonlinear gas dynamics;
• proof of the validity of the universal character of the jump conditions in dissipative MHD and in dilute plasmas;
• making successful applications of resonant MHD wave theory (e.g. sunspots, magnetic canopy, fibrils, coronal loops and magnetosphere);
• developing the tools of global coronal seismology.

Acknowledged Standing

• Member of Executive Committee and UK representative of World Institute for Space Environment Research (WISER) from 2005.
• Invited Member of the International Advisory Committee of International Workshops and Summer Schools on Plasma Physics (IWSSPP) from 2004.
• UK representative on Management Committee of COST Action P17 EPM.
• Member of PPARC Project Peer Review Panel 2004 - 2007.
• Panel Member of PPARC Solar Orbiter Committee from 2004.
• Chair of the UK Solar Physics Community from 2002.
• Secretary of the UK Solar Physics Community till 2001.
• For membership of societies click here.

Editorship

• Editor (joint with Dr H. Mason, Cambridge U. till 2002; Dr L. Fletcher, U. of Galsgow afterwards) of the Solar Physics Newsletters (UK).

National and International Conferences/Schools

• Principal Organiser of the PPARC Advanced Solar Physics Summer School, September 2006, Sheffield
• Principal Organiser of The Royal Society's DM on 'MHD waves and oscillations in the solar plasma', March 2005, London
• Co-Organiser and Chairman of the joint Annual UK Solar Physics/National Astronomy Meeting, April 2005, Birmingham
• Co-Organiser and Chairman of the joint Annual UK Solar Physics - MIST meeting, April 2004, Edinburgh
• Principal Organiser (UK Director) of 'British - Hungarian N+N Workshop for Young Researchers on Computer Processing and Use of Satellite Data in Astronomy and Astrophysics', 5-7 February 2004, Budapest, Hungary
• Chair of Session on Solar Physics, '3rd Meeting of Young Researchers in Astronomy and Astrophysics', 3-4 February 2004, Budapest, Hungary
• Principal Organiser and Chair of Scientific Organising Committee of ESA-NASA's joint SOHO 13 conference, September 2003, Mallorca
• Principal Organiser of the PPARC Introductory Summer School, September 2003, Sheffield
• Principal Organiser and Chairman of the conference 'Heating of the solar atmosphere: waves vs. reconnection', 9th May 2003, RAS Burlington House, London
• Convener of ST 7 at EGS-AGU, Nice, April 2003
• Co-Organiser of Annual UK Solar Physics/National Astronomy Meeting, Dublin, April 2003
• Co-Organiser and Chairman of the joint UK Solar Physics - MIST meeting, 9-12 April 2002, Sheffield
• Principal Organiser and Chairman of the UK MHD 2001 conference 'MHD at the Dawn of the New Millennium', 26-27 April 2001, Sheffield
• Co-Organiser and Chairman of the Joint NAM-Solar Physics 2001 Meeting, 2-6 April 2001, Cambridge
• Principal Organiser and Chairman of the conference 'Magnetic waves and oscillations in the Sun', January 2000, RAS Burlington House, London
• Principal Organiser and Chairman of the UKY2K Solar Physics Meeting, 16-18 April 2000, Sheffield
• Co-Organiser of the ESGI2000 conference, 10-14 April 2000, Sheffield
• Co-Organiser and Secretary to the '3rd International Conference on Mixing in Geophysical & Astrophysical Flows', 10-12 April 2000, Sheffield

Invited Seminars/Colloquia

[2006]

• 'MHD Seismology of the Solar Atmosphere', IAU Colloquium on 'The Solar Corona from Space and at Eclipse', Sofia, Bulgaria, 28-31 January 2006 (Invited Review)

[2005]

• 'MHD Waves and Oscillations in Solar Structures', International Workshop and Summer School on Plasma Physics, Kiten, Bulgaria, 9-13 June 2005 (Invited Lecture)
• 'Coronal Seismology and the Origin of Spicules', Hungarian Academy of Sciences (MTA), Budapest, Hungary, 10 May 2005 (Invited Review)
• 'Solar Atmospheric Seismology', World Space Environment Forum, Graz, Austria, 2-6 May 2005 (Invited Review)
• 'Solar Atmospheric Magneto-Seismology', WISER Workshop on HPC2005; Computing in Space and Astrophysical Plasmas, K.U. Leuven, Belgium, April 2005 (Invited Review)
• 'Seismology and Dynamics of the Lower Solar Atmosphere', MPI-Lindau (Germany), April 2005 (Invited Lecture)
• 'Magnetic coupling of waves in the solar atmosphere', Royal Society DM on 'MHD waves and oscillations in the solar plasma', London, 14-15 March 2005 (Review)
• 'Heating of the Solar Corona', N³ Workshop for Young Researchers in Plasma- and Astrophysics: From Laboratory to Outer Space, Cluj Napoca, Romania, 17-19 January 2004 (Invited Review)
• 'MHD Waves and Seismology of Solar Lower Atmosphere', Royal Astronomical Society (RAS) Special Discussion Meeting on 'Seismology from Core to Corona', London, 14 January 2005 (Invited Review)

[2004]

• 'MHD in Space Plasmas', Technological Plasmas Workshop 2004, Sheffield, 20-21 December 2004 (Invited Review)
• Two Invited Reviews ('MHD Waves I: Observations'; 'MHD Waves II: Theory'), PPARC Introductory Summer School in Solar-Terrestrial Physics, U. of Glasgow, September, 2004
• Invited Lecture Series 'The Physics of the Solar Plasma (The solar zoo; MHD of space plasmas; MHD waves)', Universidad de los Andes, Merida, Venezuela, June 2004
• 'Latest Developments in Solar Atmospheric Seismology', Mullard Space Science Laboratory, UCL, on 28 May 2004
• 'Seismology of the Atmosphere of the Sun', Univ. of Aberystwyth, on 14 May 2004
• 'Solar Atmospheric Seismology: New ways to look at the the atmosphere from photosphere to solar wind', EGU 1st General Assembly, Nice, 25-30 April, 2004 (Invited Review)
• 'Oscillations and Dynamics of the Lower Solar Atmosphere', Joint MIST-UKSP, Edinburgh, 29 March - 1 April 2004 (Invited Review)
• 'The SOHO and TRACE missions: An Overview', N+N Workshop, Budapest, Hungary, 5-7 February, 2004 (Review)
• 'MHD Waves in Closed Solar Plasma Structures', Royal Astronomical Society (RAS) Special Discussion Meeting on 'Waves in Solar and Magnetospheric Plasmas', London, 9 January 2004 (Invited Review)

[2003]

• 'Heating mechanisms in the atmosphere of cools stars and the Sun', Joint European and National Astronomy Meeting (JEMAM), Budapest, 25-30 August 2003 (Invited Review)
• 'Living with the dynamic Sun', Royal Astronomical Society (RAS) Annual General Meeting, London, 9 May 2003 (Invited Review)
• 'The Coronal Heating Enigma: What did we learn from the new space missions?', Dept. of Physics and Astronomy, U. of Glasgow, on 20th March 2003
• 'Coupling of Helioseismic Oscillations to the Solar Atmosphere: Does the Tail Wag the Dog?', DAMTP, U. of Cambridge, on 21st January 2003
• 'Global solar mode coupling to the solar atmosphere', ICSTM, on 14 January 2003

[2002]

• 'Signatures of Nano-Scale Heating in Solar Plasmas', U. of Warwick, 9th December 2002
• 'Coupling of the Solar Atmosphere to Helioseismic Oscillations', U. of Newcastle, 29 November 2002
• 'Impulsive Random Energy Heating in Coronal Loops and the Importance of Non-Equilibrium Ionisation', Coronal Loops Workshop, Paris, November 2002
• 'Living with a Star: The Dynamic Sun', Sheffield Astronomy Society, on 8th November 2002
• 'Should We Care About the Solar Atmosphere When Probing the Interior?', U. of St. Andrews, on 1st November 2002
• 'Solar MHD heating', NATO ARW, September, 2002 (Invited Key Speaker)
• 'Effects of the Atmosphere and of Sub-surface Flows on Solar Oscillation Modes', 10th European Solar Physics Meeting, September, 2002 (Invited Key Speaker)
• Two Invited Reviews ('Coronal Structures through the Solar Cycle (Theory)'; 'MHD Waves'), PPARC Advanced Summer School in Solar Astrophysics, U. of Central Lancashire, September, 2002
• 'MHD Simulations of Nano-scale Reconnection with Applications to Solar Physics', WISER Workshop on HPC In Space Environmental Research, U. of Adelaide, Australia, July 2002 (Invited Review), Cancelled due to illness.
• 'Resonant Flow Instabilities in Solar Plasmas', Wold Space Environment Forum (WSEF 2002), U. of Adelaide, Australia, July 2002 (Invited Speaker), Cancelled due to illness.
• 'Resonant MHD Waves and Resonant Flow Instabilities in the Solar Atmosphere and Solar Wind', EGS XXVII, April, 2002 (Invited Review)

[2001]

• 'Resonant MHD Waves in Steady Plasmas', U. of Balears, May, 2001 (Invited Review)
• 'Small-scale Heating in the Solar Atmosphere' at U. of Central Lancashire on 25 April 2001
• 'Nano-scale eruptive events', at 'Living with an Active Star: Solar cycle changes, eruptive events and terrestrial consequences', RAS, London, on 9 March 2001
• 'Linear and Nonlinear Resonant MHD Wave Heating in the Solar Atmosphere', RAS, London, on 12 January 2001
• 'Coronal Heating: Theory versus Observations' at NAM-UKSP 2001, Cambridge in April 2001 (Invited Review)

[2000]

• 'Is there a Unified Theory for Atmospheric Heating and Helioseismic Damping?' at U. of Brimingham on 15 December 2000
• 'Strongly Nonlinear Resonant MHD Waves' at K.U. Leuven in May 2000
• 'MHD Modelling of Micro-scale Heating' at UK MHD Y2K, Nottingham in May 2000
• 'Linear and Nonlinear Resonant Waves in the Solar Atmosphere' at UK SPY2K, Sheffield in April 2000
• 'Explosive Events on the Sun' at U. of Lancaster on 21 January 2000

[1999]

• 'Nonlinear Resonant MHD waves in the Atmosphere of the Sun' at Lockheed Space & Astrophys. Lab., Palo Alto, USA in August 1999

[1998]

• 'Linear Resonant MHD Waves in the Sun' at U. of Pisa in May 1998
• 'Micro-Scale Event on the Solar Atmosphere' at LAEFF, Madrid, Spain in March 1998
• 'Explosive Event on the Sun: SOHO Observations & Theory' at K.U. Leuven, Belgium in November 1998

[1997]

• 'Heating of the Solar Corona by Resonant Absorption' at U. of Bochum, Germany in November 1997
• 'How this more Can Be Applied to Solar Physics' at U. of St. Andrews in November 1997
• 'Introduction to Resonant Absorption: What I Know more About Linear Theory' at U. of St. Andrews in November 1997
• 'Heating of the Solar Corona by Resonant MHD Waves' at Kiepenheuer Ins., Freiburg, Germany in April 1997
• 'Introduction to Resonant Absorption: What I Know About Linear Theory' at U. of St. Andrews in February 1997

[Till 1995]

• 'Effects of Flow on Resonant Absorption' at Eötv&eouml;s U. Budapest in April 1995
• 'Effects of Flow on Resonant Absorption' at K.U. Leuven, Belgium in April 1994
• 'Heating of the Solar Corona' at Eötv&eouml;s U. Budapest in April 1994
• 'Visco-resistive computations of resonant absorption of MHD waves in cylindric flux tubes' at Eötv&eouml;s U. Budapest in April 1993
• 'Solar Activity in the Miocene Period' at U. of Utrecht in May 1991
• 'MHD Shock Waves on the Sun' at Sternberg Institute, Moscow, Russia in May 1990
• 'MHD Shock Waves in Ionised Plasmas' at Kyoto State University, Kyoto, Japan in August 1998
• 'Strong MHD Shock Waves in Solar Plasmas' at Schiller U., Jena, Germany in November 1987
• 'MHD Shock Waves Heating in the Sun' at Einstein Observatory in October 1987

Refereeing

• I serve as a regular referee for many international journals, including, Astronomy & Astrophysics, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Journal of Geophysical Research, Journal of Plasma Physics, Physics of Plasmas, Solar Physics, The Astrophysical Journal, Wave Motion, Proc. of Royal Soc., etc.
• I have refereed research grant applications for British Council, NASA, PPARC, NSF (USA) and serve(d) on PPARC's Visiting Grant Panels.