Radio-wave propagation and scattering: current progress and challenges

Prasad Subramanian, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research

Density fluctuations associated with turbulence in the solar corona result in refractive index changes. Such refractive index fluctuations corrugate the phase fronts of radio waves travelling through the turbulent medium, often causing shifts in the source position and broadening of the source extent. We will present an overview of observations that illustrate these effects. We show how such observations can be used to infer properties of the turbulent density spectrum (such as the dissipation scale) in the solar corona and the solar wind. Our inferences are expected to be relevant to understanding turbulent dissipation and proton heating in the solar wind acceleration region. We will also outline the need for progress in this area, by way of observations and theoretical interpretation.