November 10th 2017 Lisa Lehmann (2nd Year PhD, St Andrews)
"Do We Get The Runaround From Starspots" - Exploring Magnetic fields around solar like stars.
Lisa's comprehensive and detailed talk, explored through observations, the properties and effects of star magnetism. The talk was divided into three sections, first a general introduction, then observational results and finally uncovering the geometry of magnetic fields.
Firt she discussed the Poloidal and Toroidal geometry of a stars magnetism using what is known of our local star, the Sun's magnetism is generated. Star masses were considered and their magnetic field properties shown to generall fall into three categories, those of larger masses having simple, steady fields; those with with about 0.5 to 1.5 solar masses and those of below 0.5 solar mass which resulted in variable and sometimes cyclic fields which depended on rotational periods and mass with age a further complication.
Much of the talk concentrated on the mathematics involved and was superbly
illustrated with graphs showing how these were arrived at.
Lisa concluded her talk with a lively question and answer session, after which,
refreshments were served as books were made available for sale.
There being no further business the meeting closed around 9.15pm.
Lisa's talk. Sound recording
Videos and sound can be played on-line or downoaded for reference.
Thanks to Lisa for a very informative discussion and our resident caterer for refreshments
Lisa Lehmann
