Three-Dimensional Magnetic Configuration and Evolution of Flare Productive Active Regions

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This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5). The principal investigator (PI) will study the evolution of coronal magnetic configurations and the corresponding free magnetic energy that is associated with solar explosive phenomena, such as flares and coronal mass ejections (CMEs). She plans to use photospheric vector magnetograms from the Hinode satellite and from the forthcoming Solar Dynamic Observatory (SDO) as boundary conditions for reconstructing the 3D coronal magnetic field. The PI will apply multigrid-like optimization methods to this boundary data to extrapolate the non-linear force-free (NLFF) coronal magnetic field, and ultimately, to quantitatively estimate the free energy and nonpotentiality of the coronal magnetic field.The PI will focus on 3D magnetic configurations, such as magnetic shear, magnetic inclination angle, and the electric current system, while investigating the temporal evolution of free magnetic energy and flare productivity of active regions. She anticipates that this work will reveal the pre-eruption configuration of unstable magnetic structures, shed light on the complexity and energy budget of solar active regions, and help establish the prediction accuracy of specific flare and CME models in community use today.Among other broader impacts, this effort will help improve the mission analysis of data to be obtained from the Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager (HMI) instrument on the upcoming SDO spacecraft. The PI also expects her observational results to enhance the modeling and forecasting of flares and CMEs. This project has a strong education and mentoring component, with the young female PI acting as an advisor and supervisor to Ph.D. students.