A Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant for research at IRSOL on solar magnetism

A research project to be hosted by the Istituto Ricerche Solari Aldo e Cele Daccò (IRSOL) has been selected for funding under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) Postdoctoral Fellowships 2025, one of the most competitive European programmes dedicated to the mobility and career development of young researchers.

Of the 17,066 proposals submitted internationally, only 1,610 were accepted for funding, with a success rate of 9.6%. Among these is the SOMMA project – Solar Magnetic Mapping: UV Spectropolarimetric Diagnostics from Photosphere to Transition Region, which will be carried out at Istituto Ricerche Solari Aldo e Cele Daccò (IRSOL), affiliated with the Faculty of Informatics at Università della Svizzera italiana (USI).

The project leader is Dr David Alfonso Delgado, currently at the High Altitude Observatory (HAO), Boulder, USA, who will join IRSOL for 24 months to carry out his research in collaboration with Dr Luca Belluzzi, Dr Gioele Janett, and other IRSOL scientists.

The scientific objective of SOMMA is to deepen our understanding of the structure of the magnetic field in the solar atmosphere, a key element in the study of solar activity and the physical processes that influence space weather. Since it is not possible to make direct measurements of the solar magnetic field (in situ), the project focuses on the development and refinement of advanced remote-sensing diagnostic techniques based on ultraviolet (UV) spectropolarimetry.

In particular, the research is based on the analysis of the polarisation signals of UV spectral lines formed in the solar atmosphere, which carry the imprint of the magnetic field through the Zeeman and Hanle effects. The recent suborbital missions CLASP2 and CLASP2.1, carried out by NASA with international partners including IRSOL, which has contributed with theoretical modelling, have demonstrated the great diagnostic potential of such signals, enabling unprecedented mapping of the magnetic stratification within active regions of the Sun.

The SOMMA project now aims to make further progress in this research field by improving the modelling of the formation of intensity and polarisation signals in different UV spectral lines. This will refine existing diagnostic techniques and make more effective use of available data, as well as data that will be collected by future space missions.

Further confirming the high quality of the submitted proposals, 13 Seal of Excellence awards were granted within the framework of the MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships 2025 to projects associated with USI and its affiliated institutes.

The Seal of Excellence is a quality label awarded by the European Commission to proposals that achieved a score of 85/100 or above but were not funded due to budget constraints. It certifies the scientific excellence of the projects and supports applicants in seeking alternative sources of funding.