Tom Van Doorsselaere

Conducted research at

UUniversity of Warwick, United Kingdom

New base of operations

K.U.Leuven, Centre for plasma astrophysics / Department of Mathematics,
He will conduct research into “Coronal seismology in the Solar Dynamics Observatory era”.
His Odysseus grant (Group II) amounts to: 722,700 EUR, spread over 5 years. He will co-operate with a team of 5 researchers in Leuven.

Academic career:
  • Postdoctoral fellow of the Flemish Research Fund (K.U.Leuven, Belgium) (2010- present)
  • EU FP7 intra-European fellowship at the University of Warwick (UK) (2008-2010)
  • post-doctoral research assistant at the University of Warwick (UK) (2006-2008)
  • post-doctoral researcher at the K.U.Leuven (Belgium) (2006)
Three important publications
  • Propagating transverse waves in hot coronal jets, Vasheghani Fara.hani S., Van Doorsselaere T., Verwichte E., Nakariakov V.M. 2009, A&A Letters, 2009, A&A, vol. 498, pp. L29-1,32
  • MHD seismology of coronal loops using the period and damping of quasi-mode kink oscillations, Arregui I., Andries ,J., Van Doorsselaere T., Coossens M. and Poedts S., 2007, A&A, vol. 463, pp. 333-338
  • Damping of coronal loop oscillations: calculation of resonantly damped kink oscillations of onedimensional nonuniform loops, Van Doorsselaere T., Andries 3., Poedts S. and Goossens M., 2004, ApJ, vol. 606, pp. 1223-1232
From the jury report

Tom Van Doorsselaere has a very strong scientific background in the world-leading Centre for Plasma Astrophysics in Leuven, followed by postdoctoral research at a major institution in the UK. Moreover, he has held a highly competitive Marie Curie Fellowship. He has, largely on his own initiative, taken up the field of seismology of the solar corona, a field where the required observational data are only now becoming available. This resulted in very substantial contributions to the field, despite his young age.. Also, he has given an impressive number of seminars and other presentations, further contributing to making him an internationally known and recognized scientist.

His impressive list of publications, relatively focused towards the magnetohydrodynamics of the solar atmosphere, constitute an excellent background for his actual project on corona seismology. The well-defined work plan of the project is an indication for a strong potential for research leadership, beyond his own individual research. This exciting highly original and extremely timely research will transform our understanding of the Sun's corona. Coronal seismology is a new field, and this research will transform it from a theoretical exercise into a highly practical one in which the physical properties of the corona will be deduced in detail for the first time from the properties of the observed oscillations.

The project is highly feasible, the method and focusing are ideal. The candidate and his colleagues have been preparing for the major advance represented by this project for many years. The recent launch of the huge new space satellite SDO makes the project extremely timely, since many of the analysis tools have already been developed by the applicant. This will certainly greatly enhance the world visibility and standing of Flanders’ research.