Analysis of ultraviolet radiation from solar flares

太阳耀斑是源自太阳大气层的剧烈辐射爆发。耀斑，以及经常与之相关的日冕物质抛射，会对地球环境产生影响，所以了解耀斑的过程——也许在某种程度上预测耀斑何时开始——是非常有趣的。耀斑的辐射横跨整个电磁波谱，从无线电到伽马射线，但大部分辐射能量出现在光谱的光学和紫外线部分。通过分析太阳耀斑的辐射，我们了解了它们的特性；耀斑能量是如何释放并在太阳大气中传播的，以及它是如何与不断变化的太阳磁场联系在一起的。在这个项目中，我们将使用美国宇航局界面区域成像光谱仪（IRIS）卫星的数据来研究太阳耀斑，并描述太阳大气的物理特性。我们将首次系统地应用一种技术，将辐射物质的密度和速度导出到一个大型数据集，采用机器学习方法来提高分析的效率。我们将跟踪耀斑的发展，从它开始之前开始，寻找耀斑如何开始的线索，这可能有助于预测。这项研究属于STFC的天文学计划，旨在解决太阳如何工作以及是什么驱动了它的变化等问题。

Solar flares are dramatic outbursts of radiation originating in the solar atmosphere. Flares, and the often-associated coronal mass ejections, can have an impact on the Earth's environment, so understanding the flare process - and perhaps at some point predicting when a flare will start - is of great interest. A flare radiates across the entire electromagnetic spectrum, from radio to gamma-rays, but most of the radiated energy emerges in the optical and ultraviolet part of the spectrum. It is by analysing the radiation from solar flares that we learn about their properties; how the flare energy is released and travels through the solar atmosphere, and how it is linked to the evolving solar magnetic field. In this project we will use data from NASA's Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) satellite to study solar flares, and characterise the physical properties of the solar atmosphere. For the first time we will systematically apply a technique to derive the density and speed of the radiating material to a large dataset, employing machine learning methods to improve the efficiency of the analysis. We will track the development of the flare, starting from before its onset, to look for clues about how a flare begins, which could potentially help in prediction. This research falls under the STFC's Astronomy Programme, addressing questions about how the Sun works and what drives its variability.