Understanding CMEs using AIA and SWAP data

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The Sun is a dynamic and active star. Observations across the electromagnetic spectrum from gamma rays to radio have revealed that the Sun has a million degree atmosphere in which the most energetic explosions and eruptions in the Solar System take place. The explosions are known as solar flares and the eruptions are known as coronal mass ejections (CMEs). The energy source for these energetic phenomena is field-aligned electric currents in the Sun's atmospheric magnetic field. Understanding the physical processes that take place to convert this energy from magnetic to other forms such as kinetic and radiative and hence understand flares and CMEs, is a major aim in solar physics. The aim of this project is to study the evolution of the physical phenomena leading to the initiation of CMEs.In many cases, a key aspect is that the magnetic field forms a CME is a configuration known as a "flux rope". These are bundles of twisted magnetic field, which can lose their stability and then erupt into the Solar System. However, observations indicate that the magnetic structure that erupts might not be the entire flux rope as initially formed, raising the question of what physical processes are occurring to evolve the configuration shortly before the CME. This project seeks to understand how flux ropes form and are modified before and during the eruption itself due to the influence of the surrounding coronal magnetic field. The project will use a range of data sets supplied by the SDO and Proba-2 spacecraft, as well as ground-based telescopes.