Advisor: Charles Kankelborg
Magnetic fields store the energy that is released in events at small and large scales, ranging from transition region explosive events to solar flares and coronal mass ejections. This project will involve modeling modeling the storage and release of magnetic energy in complex magnetic fields.
The Fluxon Model is a new tool for simulation of magnetized plasmas, developed collaboratively between MSU and SouthWest Research Institute. The code has been refined through application to several test cases, and is beginning to bear fruit. More information on the model, as well as movies and still shots of example applications, may be viewed here. The student will use simulated or measured maps of solar photospheric magnetic fields to generate initial conditions for modeling. The student will learn to run the fluxon model, and will aid in the physical interpretation of the results. Knowledge of electricity and magnetism, computer programming skills, and writing skills are essential. Prior exposure to numerical modeling or visualization will be considered a strength. Experience with IDL (Interactive Data Language), PDL (Perl Data Language) or Perl is desirable but not required. Several REU students have worked in this area in recent years. Their web pages are here:
http://solar.physics.montana.edu/home/www/reu/2008/cplumber/