NSWP: Can the Kink Instability Trigger Solar Energetic Events?

拟议的工作将考虑一个候选机制，磁扭结不稳定性，作为太阳爆发事件的触发器。这种不稳定性描述了磁螺旋度的“扭曲”分量（磁力线绕轴的缠绕）快速转换为“扭曲”（轴本身的缠绕）。PI声称，最近的观测研究得出结论，活动区域没有足够的磁扭曲，使扭结不稳定性遭受系统低估的扭曲。提议者在这里提供了一种具有不同假设的新观测方法，并表示初始盲测试表明该方法可以成功地恢复数值模拟中已知的扭曲。新方法改进了以往的研究结果，使之更清楚地表明了扭结不稳定性的作用，从而有助于确定哪些机制导致了太阳高能事件。拟议的工作将使用光球层和色球层的矢量磁场数据，确定通量绳并评估其在大量活动区域的扭曲。该项目的目标将是研究扭结不稳定性是否能在太阳高能事件中发挥作用;重点将是确定太阳中出现这种机制的必要条件，而不是充分条件。为了更广泛的影响，将向太阳研究界提供本研究中使用的光球和色球矢量磁场数据。提议者将为空军理工学院的一名研究生提供建议，并继续他们正在进行的公共宣传计划和对年轻女性的指导。

The proposed work will consider one candidate mechanism, the magnetic kink instability, as a trigger for solar eruptive events. This instability describes the rapid conversion of the "twist" component of magnetic helicity (the winding of the field lines about an axis) into "writhe" (winding of the axis itself). The PI asserted that recent observational studies concluding that active regions have insufficient magnetic twist to enable the kink instability have suffered from systematically underestimating the twist. The proposers offered here a new observational method with different assumptions, and stated that initial blind tests indicated that this method could successfully recover the twist known to be present in numerical simulations. The proposed new method will give a clearer indication of the role of the kink instability by improving upon the recent studies that have ruled out the kink instability based on what the proposers considered to be inappropriate assumptions.The results of this study will aid in determining which mechanism(s) gives rise to solar energetic events. The proposed work will identify flux ropes and evaluate their twist for a significant number of active regions, using vector magnetic field data in both the photosphere and chromosphere. The project goal will be to examine whether the kink instability can play a role in solar energetic events; the focus will be on establishing the necessary rather than the sufficient conditions for the occurrence of this mechanism in the Sun. For broader impacts, the vector magnetic field data used in this study, both photospheric and chromospheric, will be made available to the solar research community. The proposers will advise a graduate student from the Air Force Institute of Technology, as well as continue their ongoing public outreach programs and the mentoring of young women.