Tuesday Physics Seminar: Solar Modeling

Tuesday, March 5, 2019 The event started -1850 days ago

2:50 AM 3:50 AM

Optics Building

Room 234

Solar Modeling: Why's, What's, and How's

Dr. Gregory Fleishman (New Jersey Institute of Technology)

In the fragmented world of modern science, physics of the Sun, our closest star, reliably captures public interest and has practical implications. Solar activity affects defense systems, human health, modern technology and infrastructure, and even financial markets. The fundamental problems of modern Solar Physics require analysis of multiple data sets obtained with a diverse set of ground- and space-based instruments. The sheer level of complexity in newly available data sets needs adequate theoretical modeling in order to derive even the target physical parameters of a given measurement. Much larger-caliber theoretical and modeling efforts are needed to create a complete physical picture of solar phenomena by combining multiple available data sets and new observational windows with adequate simulation and modeling framework. 

In this presentation I outline key outstanding fundamental problems in solar physics and argue that many of them require physics-based modeling to be meaningfully addressed, and present my vision of integrating pan-wavelength data within a synthetic modeling framework. To be specific, in this talk I will concentrate in some detail on only one aspect of the whole picture—an entirely novel science-transforming capability of dynamically probing a rapidly evolving coronal magnetic field in solar flares—the science area I’ve been developing over the last ten years. Starting from a commonly familiar picture of a free electron motion in the ambient magnetic field, I will illustrate the foundation of the methodology, describe grand challenges of its practical application to the solar case, tell the story of how these challenges have been addressed, and present the powerful methodology that was ultimately created. I will present the most recent detections of a rapid decay of the coronal magnetic field in solar flares and discuss their implications for the impulsive energy release, particle acceleration, turbulent diffusivity of the magnetic field, and the whole picture of the solar flares. Overall, I will make the case that, fueled by rapidly increasing size and complexity of the solar data, the role of the modeling in both fundamental understanding of solar phenomena and practical aspects of Space Weather will be dramatically growing in the foreseeable future.


Details

Category
Conference/Lecture
department
College of Science, Physics and Astronomy
Audience
Public, Students, Faculty and Staff, Alumni

Contact

Ming Sun This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Venue

Optics Building

John Wright Blvd.Huntsville, AL 35899

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