Physics Dept Seminar

March 10, Monday

Sailing The Solar Storms: Modelling and Forecast of Explosive Events from the Solar Surface to the Outer Space

Dr. Giulia Murtas

University of Hawai'i – Mānoa

(Solar Physics, Host: Perry)

Time: 11:45 am - 12:45 pm with 11:30 am teatime

Room: ECE 202

Across the solar atmosphere – up to the interplanetary space – the magnetic fields emerging from the Sun form elongated structures called flux ropes that twist and bend. The regions where the bending happens allow storage of large amounts of magnetic energy. This energy can then be released into bulk flow energy and heat, and accelerate particles through a fundamental – and very efficient – plasma process called magnetic reconnection. Magnetic reconnection can be triggered by the onset of instabilities, which twist the magnetic field lines and create regions of strong magnetic shear where reconnection is promoted. These dynamics result both in plasma eruptions (from the small chromospheric jets and Ellerman bombs to the largest solar flares) that drive fast plasma flows and heat the surrounding layers of plasma, and in the extreme energization of particles across the solar heliosphere. Today we will explore how magnetic reconnection is able to drive large explosive events from the solar surface to outer space, and how we can understand it better by merging models and observations.