Dr Balazs Pinter

MPhys (Hungary) PhD (Belgium)

I started to learn and  enjoy maths and physics in the primary school, in a small town, Lábatlan (Hungary). I did my secondary school at ELTE Apáczai Csere János Gyakorló Gimnázium in Budapest, where I also had excellent maths and physics teachers. I graduated as a physicist at the Faculty of Science at Eötvös Lóránd University, Budapest. I started to explore the magnetic effects on helioseismic oscillations as a doctoral study in the Centre for Plasma Physics at the Catholic University Leuven (Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium). After finishing my studies in Leuven in 1999, I moved back to Hungary and worked for GE Lighting Tungsram Rt., Budapest as a design engineer. I turned back to helioseismology when I joint the BiSON (Birmingham Solar-Oscillations Network) Research Team in 2000. I worked at Sheffield Hallam University with my supervisor, Roger New. In 2004, I started to work on a computational code at the University of Sheffield as a research assistant. By that code, we modelled phenomena in the upper atmosphere of the Earth. I came to Aberystwyth University in 2006.

Module Coordinator

• FG10020 - Dynameg, Tonnau a Gwres
• PH06020 - Introduction to Mathematical Methods 1
• PH06520 - Introduction to Mathematical Methods 2
• PH10020 - Dynamics, Waves and Heat
• PH38820 - Physics of Planetary Atmospheres

Tutor

• PH06020 - Introduction to Mathematical Methods 1
• PH06520 - Introduction to Mathematical Methods 2
• PH26620 - Numerical Techniques for Physicists
• PH14310 - Modern Physics

Coordinator

• PH06020 - Introduction to Mathematical Methods 1
• PH06520 - Introduction to Mathematical Methods 2
• PH10020 - Dynamics, Waves and Heat
• PH38820 - Physics of Planetary Atmospheres
• FG10020 - Dynameg, Tonnau a Gwres

Lecturer

• PH14310 - Modern Physics
• PH06520 - Introduction to Mathematical Methods 2
• PH06020 - Introduction to Mathematical Methods 1
• PH39620 - Astrophysics I: Physics of the Sun

Grader

• PH37540 - Project (40 Credits)

The first area of my research is solar physics. More specifically I am interested in theoretical and observational helioseismology. This field studies the global surface oscillations of the Sun and uses them as diagnostic tools to learn about the interior of the Sun, which is optically not visible in any direct ways, as the photons of solar light that reach our eyes or telescopes are generated in the photosphere, which is the thin surface layer of the Sun. The global pulsation of the photosphere is caused by acoustic waves which travel in the hot material of the solar interior. Acoustic waves from the interior reach the surface continuously and give an impulse to the photosphere as they are reflected back towards the centre of the Sun by the sharp drop of the plasma density at the solar surface. Those impulses keep the photospheric oscillations alive. Modeling these global waves and analysing the observational data provides a glimpse into a spectacular world beneath the solar surface.In the modeling study I focus on the question how the magnetic atmosphere of the Sun influences global oscillations, which are almost completely trapped in the solar interior. I am also interested in the recently developed techniques of local helioseismology, which studies oscillations observed in small regions on the surface or in the atmosphere of the Sun.

My other research area is in planetary exploration. In our Venus Research Group we exploit Venus Express data about the ionosphere of our neighbouring planet. The spacecraft orbits Venus once a day and counts - among several other quantities - the number of ions and electrons impacted one of the onboard instruments. We also have a project on our other neighbour, in which we study the radiation environment on Mars. The results of our models will hopefully be useful when the measurements of rocks and regolith from the first two-way mission to Mars will be ready to be interpreted.

Physics Undergraduate Admissions Tutor

Personal and Academic Tutor

Foundation-Year Tutor

• Solar System Physics Group