The European Research Council (ERC) has awarded Prof. Dr. Laurent Gizon of the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research (MPS) and the Faculty of Physics at the University of Göttingen one of its prestigious ERC Advanced Grants. Over the next five years, the funding of 2.5 million euros will support the project INSIDE ("Mapping Magnetic Fields in the Solar Interior"), which seeks to answer one of the most important unresolved questions in solar physics: what does the Sun's magnetic field look like beneath its surface?
The Sun's magnetic field governs a wide range of phenomena, from sunspots and solar flares to coronal mass ejections that can affect technological infrastructure near Earth. Although magnetic fields at the solar surface have been measured for more than a century, the magnetic field deep inside the Sun - where it is generated and organized - has remained beyond direct observation. INSIDE aims to change this. The project will exploit a recently discovered class of solar oscillations known as inertial modes. These global waves are particularly sensitive to conditions deep inside the Sun's convection zone, where the solar dynamo operates. By combining long-term observations, advanced models, and numerical simulations, the project will establish a new approach to probing the solar interior: inertial-mode helioseismology.
The project builds on a series of breakthroughs achieved at MPS over the past decade, including the discovery and identification of solar inertial modes. These oscillations provide a unique window into regions that are inaccessible to the acoustic waves traditionally used in helioseismology. The ultimate goal is to produce the first seismic measurements of the Sun's internal magnetic field and to identify where magnetic fields are generated, stored, and transported during the solar cycle.
A new window into the solar dynamo
Scientists know that the Sun's magnetic field is responsible for its approximately eleven-year activity cycle, yet many fundamental aspects of the underlying dynamo process remain poorly understood. Existing observations reveal magnetic fields at the surface, but provide only indirect information about conditions deep within the solar interior.
INSIDE will use inertial modes to probe these hidden layers. The project will develop new observational tools, forward models, and inversion techniques capable of translating subtle changes in the properties of inertial modes into measurements of the internal magnetic field. The resulting observations are expected to provide the first direct constraints on where and how the Sun generates its large-scale magnetic field.
About the awardee and the prize
Prof. Dr. Laurent Gizon is Director at the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research in Göttingen and Professor at the Faculty of Physics of the University of Göttingen. His research focuses on helioseismology, stellar physics, and the dynamics of the solar interior. He has pioneered several methods for probing the structure and flows inside the Sun and has led major advances in the study of solar inertial modes.
This is Laurent Gizon´s third ERC grant. He received an ERC Starting Grant in 2007 and later the ERC Synergy Grant WHOLESUN (2018-2026), a collaborative project involving partners in France, Norway, Greece, and Spain.
ERC Advanced Grants support established researchers with a recognized track record of significant scientific achievements. The grants provide up to 2.5 million euros over five years to pursue ambitious, high-risk, high-gain research projects. The funding is awarded through a highly competitive Europe-wide selection process conducted by the European Research Council.
