Seminar by Laurent Lamy – LESIA, OBSPM, Paris & LAM, Marseille

A seminar led by

Dr. Laurent Lamy, Assistant astronomer at LESIA at the Paris Observatory

entitled :

Studying the magnetospheres of the solar system and beyond using radio observations:
From in situ space exploration to the Square Kilometer Array (SKA).

will be held Tuesday, May 31 at 10:30 a.m. in the Board Room – Department 322 of the PIIM laboratory (St. Jerome Campus)

Abstract: The magnetospheres of the planets of the solar system are the seat of intense electromagnetic auroral radiation, observed in various spectral ranges, and in particular in low frequency radio (long wavelengths). Several decades of in situ (from Viking/Voyager to Cassini/Juno) and ground-based (such as the Nançay Decametric Network) radio observations of these objects have allowed us to understand the diagnosis that these observations bring for the study and characterization of planetary magnetospheres. They also revealed a common non-thermal emission mechanism, the electron Maser Cyclotron instability, which allows to amplify very efficiently circularly polarized radio waves from electrons accelerated to kinetic energies of a few keV in plasma sparse and strongly magnetized regions. The advent of giant radio telescopes (such as LOFAR, NenuFAR and soon SKA) promises to considerably enlarge the number of detected magnetospheres, with already a few tens of cases of radio emissions from stars, brown dwarfs and possible exoplanets identified.

Bio : Laurent Lamy is an assistant astronomer at the Laboratoire d’Etudes Spatiales et d’Instrumentation en Astrophysique (LESIA) of Paris Observatory, seconded to the Laboratoire d’Astrophysique de Marseille (LAM). He is a specialist in the comparative study of space plasmas, planetary magnetospheres and auroral processes. He is scientifically involved in various space radio instruments (Cassini, Juno, JUICE) and ground-based instruments (Nançay telescopes, NenuFAR, Réseau décamétrique, LOFAR, SKA).