Summer 2014 REU Projects

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Project type and supervisor
  Project title and brief description
(Click title for details)
explosive events
Data analysis with 
Charles Kankelborg
and
Sarah Jaeggli
  Explosive Events with IRIS
Solar explosive events (EEs) are line broadenings observed in transition region emission lines, at temperatures of 20,000K - 250,000K. It is widely believed that EEs are signatures of magnetic reconnection in the solar atmosphere. In this project, we will analyze far-ultraviolet spectra and images from the recently launched Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) to study reconnection in the solar transition region.  

reconnection
Modeling with 
Dana Longcope 
  Simulating Shocks in Solar Flares
Solar flares occur when a large amount of magnetic energy is released through magnetic reconnection and converted into thermal and kinetic energy of plasmas. Post-reconnection magnetic field lines retract like an elastic string, and create shocks that can heat plasma to tens of millions of Kelvins. In this project the student will run a computer program to solve the dynamical equations for the retracting field line, and study how the shape of the initial field line influences the density and temperature of the shocked fluid.
coronal loop
Data analysis with 
Piet Martens
  Heating of Coronal Loops using EIS and AIA data
Coronal loops are one of the more distinctive features of the million-degree atmosphere of the Sun, its corona. These filamentary structures resemble 'one-dimensional atmospheres' constrained by the solar magnetic field. The objective of this project is to identify and analyze a large number of coronal loops using Hinode and the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) to determine where the loops are heated.
solar prominence
Data analysis with 
David McKenzie
and
Michael Freed
  Dynamics of Magneto-convection in Solar Prominences
Recent high-resolution observations of solar prominences have revealed the presence of simultaneous flows upwards and downwards, which appear as convections motions. We will measure these convection motions in a few solar prominences to determine dynamic properties of magnetized plasmas and predict whether these structures will become unstable and evolve into corona mass ejections.