Solar radioastronomy with the LOFAR (LOw Frequency ARray) radio telescope

The Low Frequency Array (LOFAR) will be a radio astronomy interferometric array operating in the approximate frequency range 10-240 MHz. It will have a large collecting area achieved using active dipole techniques, and will have maximum baselines of up to 500 km to attain excellent spatial resolution at long wavelengths. The Sun will always be in LOFAR's field of view during daylight hours, and particularly during periods of high solar activity the Sun will be a prominent (and highly variable) feature of the low-frequency sky. A diverse range of low-frequency emissions is generated by the Sun that carry information about processes taking place in the Sun's atmosphere. Study of these emissions with LOFAR will make possible major advances in our understanding of particle acceleration and shocks in the solar atmosphere, and of coronal mass ejections and their impact on the Earth. In this paper we summarize LOFAR's capabilities and discuss the solar science that LOFAR will address.