Working in collaboration with Dr. James McAteer (New Mexico State University), Dr. Ryan Milligan (University of Glasgow), Rice graduate student Revati Mandage and NMSU graduate student Sean Sellers, the goal of this project is to achieve a physical understanding of the evolution of a flaring atmosphere as it responds to a powerful energy release. This study addresses fundamental issues of plasma physics and atomic physics at the heart of modern solar flare research. Our approach combines spectroscopic and imaging data with sophisticated numerical and forward models, to elucidate the nature of the mass and energy transport through the solar atmosphere leading to the creation of bright, post-flare arcade loops; and how the transport processes change as flares progress and new arcade loops are created.
This research is expected to dramatically expand our understanding of the physics and evolution of compact solar flares, and the X-ray and EUV variability of the Sun. It is of particular relevance to three of the four Heliophysics Decadal survey science goals: