Fragmented Energy Release in Sun and Stars

Magnetic energy release plays an important role in a wide variety of cosmic objects such as the Sun, stellar coronae, stellar and galactic accretion disks and pulsars. The observed radio, X-ray and gamma-ray emission often directly results from magnetic "flares", implying that these processes are spatially fragmented and of an impulsive nature. A true understanding of these processes requires a combined magnetohydrodynamical and plasma physical approach. "Fragmented Energy Release in Sun and Stars: the Interface between MHD and Plasma Physics" provides an interdisciplinary summary of magnetic energy release in the Sun and stars, in accretion disks, in pulsar magnetospheres and in laboratory plasmas. These proceedings include papers on both theoretical and observational aspects. The text should be suitable for researchers in the fields of solar physics, stellar astrophysics and (laboratory) plasma physics and aims to be a useful resource book for graduate level astrophysics courses.