Dr. Adam J. Finley - Astrophysics

Welcome! This site contains information and materials related to my ongoing research.

I completed my PhD at the University of Exeter in May 2020, as part of the AWESoMeStars ERC project under the supervision of Prof. Sean Matt. I continued working with Prof. Sean Matt in Exeter as a Postdoctoral Research Associate until December 2020. Since then, I have been emplyed as a Postdoctoral Researcher at CEA Paris-Saclay with Prof. Sacha Brun, as part of the WholeSun ERC project.

My research focuses on the atmospheres of stars like the Sun, which are heated to millions of degrees and subsequently escape in the form of stellar winds. During my PhD, I investigated how these winds remove angular momentum from Sun-like stars using a combination of numerical models and observations. However, I quickly learnt that even for our closest star (the Sun) measuing the loss of angular momentum (how quickly the Sun's rotation is slowing down) is challenging… so I placed constraints by evaluating the solar wind angular momentum flux and the rotation of the Sun’s atmosphere. Now, as part of the WholeSun project, I am investigating the heating of the solar atmosphere and the generation of magnetic flux inside Sun-like stars, using numerical simulations. I have also been assessing long-term trends in the Sun’s magnetic activity, from persistent active longitudes to the role of coronal holes in sculpting the solar wind. Some of my time is devoted to following the Sun’s flaring activity, and producing weekly bulletins that are widely distributed.

My Papers!

Published Papers (ORCID:0000-0002-3020-9409)

2024

Near-Continuous Monitoring of the Flaring and Morphology of a Long-Lived Active Region Nest Over Multiple Solar Rotations Finley, A. J., Brun, S., Strugarek, A., et al. in Preperation ??? (2024).

Magnetofrictional Simulations Confirm Rigid Coronal Rotation Aslanyan, V., Finley, A. J., Meyer, K., and Yeates, A. in Preperation ??? (2024).

Magnetic Activity Evolution of Solar-like Stars: II. S_ph-Ro Evolution of Kepler Main-Sequence Targets Mathur, S., Santos, A., Claytor, Z., Garcia, R., Strugarek, A., Finley, A. J., et al. in Preperation ??? (2024).

Impact of Solar Orbiter Far-side Data on Coronal and Heliospheric Wind Simulations Perri, B., Finley, A. J., Reville, V., Parenti, S, Brun, A. S., Strugarek, A., and Buchlin, E. Accepted to Astronomy and Astrophysics ??? (2024).

Kepler Main-sequence Stars: Surface Rotation and Magnetic Activity Evolution Santos, A. R. G., Godoy-Rivera, D., Finley, A. J., Mathur, S., Garcia, R. A., Breton, S. N., and Broomhall, A. Frontiers in Astronomy and Space Sciences 10.3389 (2024).

How Well Does Surface Magnetism Represent Deep Sun-like Star Dynamo Action? Finley, A. J., Brun, A. S., Strugarek, A., and Cameron, R. Accepted to Astronomy and Astrophysics ??? (2024).

Weakened Magnetic Braking in the Exoplanet Host Star 51 Peg Metcalfe, T. S., Strassmeier, K. G., Ilyin, I. V., Buzasi, D., Ayres, T. R., ..., Finley, A. J., et al. The Astrophysical Journal Letters 960.L5 (2024).

2023

Evolution of Solar Wind Sources and Coronal Rotation Driven by the Cyclic Variation of the Sun's Large-scale Magnetic Field Finley, A. J., and Brun, A. S. Astronomy and Astrophysics 679.A29 (2023).

Asteroseismology and Spectropolarimetry of the Exoplanet Host Star λ Serpentis Metcalfe, T. S., Buzasi, D., Huber, D., Pinsonnault, M. H., van Saders, J. L., ..., Finley, A. J., et al. The Astrophysical Journal 166.4 (2023): 167.

Constraints on Magnetic Braking from the G8 Dwarf Stars 61 UMa and τ Cet Metcalfe, T. S., Strassmeier, K. G., Ilyin, I. V., van Saders, J. L., Ayres, T. R., ..., Finley, A. J., et al. The Astrophysical Journal Letters 948.1 (2023): L6.

The Influence of Solar Differential Rotation on Calculations of the Sun's Angular Momentum-loss Rate Finley, A. J., and Brun, A. S. Astronomy and Astrophysics 674.A42 (2023).

2022

Observations of Quiescent Solar Wind Regions with Near-fce Wave Activity Short, B., Malaspina, D. M., Halekas, J., Romeo, O., Verniero, J. L., Finley, A. J., et al. The Astrophysical Journal 940.1 (2022): 45.

Stirring the base of the solar wind: On heat transfer and vortex formation Finley, A. J., Brun, A. S., Carlsson, M., Szydlarski, M., Hansteen, V., and Shoda, M. Astronomy and Astrophysics 665.A118 (2022).

The Origin of Weakened Magnetic Braking in Old Solar Analogs Metcalfe, T. S., Finley, A. J., Kochukhov, O., See, V., et al. The Astrophysical Journal Letters 933 (2022): L17.

Effect of Differential Rotation on Magnetic Braking of Low-Mass and Solar-Like Stars: A Proof-of-Concept Study Ireland, L. G., Matt, S. P., Davey, C. R., Harris, O. L., Slade-Harajda, T. W., Finley, A. J. , and Zanni, C. The Astrophysical Journal 925.1 (2022): 100.

A Statistical Evaluation of Ballistic Backmapping for the Slow Solar Wind: The Interplay of Solar Wind Acceleration and Corotation Macneil, A. R., Owens, M., Finley, A. J. , and Matt, S. P. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 509 (2022).

The Influence of Magnetic Field Inclination on Angular Momentum Loss from Thermally Driven Winds Finley, A. J., Matt, S. P., and Zanni, C. in Preperation (???).

2021

Magnetic and Rotational Evolution of rho CrB from Asteroseismology with TESS Metcalfe, T. S., van Saders, J. L., Basu, S., Buzasi, D., Drake, J. J., Egeland, R., Huber, D., Saar, S. H., Stassun, K. G., Ball, W. H., Campante, T. L., Finley, A. J. et al, The Astrophysical Journal Letters 921 (2021): L122.

The Solar Wind Angular Momentum Flux Observed During Solar Orbiter’s First Orbit Verscharen, D., Stansby, D., Finley, A. J., Owens, C. J., Horbury, T. et al, Astronomy and Astrophysics SolO Special Issue (2021).

The Contribution of Alpha Particles to the Solar Wind Angular Momentum Flux in the Inner Heliosphere Finley, A. J., McManus, M, Matt, S. P., Kasper, J. et al, Astronomy and Astrophysics Parker Solar Probe: Ushering a new frontier in space exploration (2021).

2020

The Solar Wind Angular Momentum Flux as Observed by Parker Solar Probe Finley, A. J., Matt, S. P., Réville, V., Pinto, R. F., Owens, M., Kasper, J. et al, The Astrophysical Journal Letters 902 (2020): L4.

Parker Solar Probe Observations of Suprathermal Electron Flux Enhancements Originating from Coronal Hole Boundaries Macneil, A. R., Owens, M., Bercic, L. and Finley, A. J., Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 498 (2020): 4.

Alfvén-wave-driven Magnetic Rotator Winds from Low-mass Stars. I. Rotation Dependences of Magnetic Braking and Mass-loss Rate Shoda, M., Suzuki, T. K., Matt, S. P., Cranmer, S. R., Vidotto, A. A., Strugarek, A., See, V., Réville, V., Finley, A. J. , and Brun, A. S., The Astrophysical Journal 896.2 (2020): 123.

How Much do Underestimated Field Strengths from Zeeman-Doppler Imaging Affect Spin-down Torque Estimates? See, V., Lehmann, L., Matt, S. P., and Finley, A. J. The Astrophysical Journal 894.1 (2020): 69.

2019

Direct Detection of Solar Angular Momentum Loss with the Wind Spacecraft Finley, A. J., Hewitt, A. L., Matt, S. P., Owens, M., Pinto, R. F. and Réville, V. The Astrophysical Journal Letters 885 (2019): L30.

Do Non-dipolar Magnetic Fields Contribute to Spin-down Torques? See, V., Matt, S. P., Finley, A. J., Folsom, C. P., Boro Saikia, S., Donati, J. F., Fares, R. et al. The Astrophysical Journal 886.2 (2019): 120.

Solar Angular Momentum Loss Over the Past Several Millennia Finley, A. J., Deshmukh, S., Matt, S. P., Owens, M. and Wu, C. J. The Astrophysical Journal 883.1 (2019): 67.

The Effect of Magnetic Variability on Stellar Angular Momentum Loss II: The Sun, 61 Cygni A, ε Eridani, ξ Bootis A and τ Bootis A Finley, A. J., See, V., and Matt, S. P. The Astrophysical Journal 876.1 (2019): 44.

Estimating Magnetic Filling Factors from Zeeman-Doppler Magnetograms See, V., Matt, S. P., Folsom, C. P., Boro Saikia, S., Donati, J. F., Fares, R., Finley, A. J. et al. The Astrophysical Journal 876.2 (2019): 118.