Author: Dominik Utz

Affiliation: IGAM/Institute of Physics, University of Graz, Austria; Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía IAA-CSIC, Granada, Spain

Title: Small-scale solar magnetic fields as seen by MBPs: From quiet-sun basics over activity to coronal holes

Abstract: The Sun is our host star and not at all a dull ball of gas, but instead an impressive heavenly body, due to its activity within its atmosphere. All of this activity is caused by magnetic fields, which range from gigantic active regions - consisiting of sunspots or even sunspot groups - down to isolated single flux fibres, often visible as magnetic bright points (MBPs). While sunspots are very important to understand the global solar magnetic field dynamo, as well as the caused large scale-solar activity, and hence the space weather and its influence on Earth, small-scale solar magnetic fields can teach us about important magneto-plasma processes such as MHD wave generation and propagatin.

In this sminary talk, we wish to shed light on MBPs, which are due to their size among the smallest solar magnetic feastures we can study currently and thus of great importance to advance the field. Moreover, they have the advantage that identifying them in "simple" filtergram images, is of an easier and especially faster task than analysing cumbersome and low cadence spectro-polarimetric data. We will outline first of all the basic characterstics of MBPs, then have a look in solar-activity processes they are involved in such as magnetic reconnection and MHD wave creation and propagation, before touching shortly large scale-structures - namely coronal holes - and their relationship to MBPs.