The imprints of flare heating on photospheric line profiles  

Background

Flares vary in magnitude and duration from solar microflares to stellar megaflares and other large scale eruptive events. They originate from out-of-equilibrium magnetic field plasma interactions and are the most explosive events in our solar system releasing vast amounts of energy over short timescales (minutes). The energy released leads to the acceleration of electrons which spiral down the magnetic field lines and lose energy via Coulomb collisions with the denser layers of the underlying atmosphere. The energy and momentum transferred by the electrons to the solar photosphere and chromosphere causes Doppler shifts that range from a few m/s to several hundred km/s. 

Project Aims

• Assess the impact of direct flare energy deposition on line diagnostics that are formed in the deep layers of the photosphere
• Introduce a magnetic field in the model atmosphere and assess the effects of flare heating on the corresponding Stokes profiles
• Compare the output of the radiative hydrodynamic flare simulations with observations

Other information

 The student will work in collaboration with researchers at QUB, and other research institutes worldwide

Facilities to be used

RADYN, RH, SIR (Radiative hydrodynamic, line synthesis and inversion codes); Daniel K Inouye Solar Telescope (Maui), ESO Telescopes

More information from the primary supervisor: Prof Mihalis Mathioudakis