Heating of Coronal Loops using EIS and AIA data

Advisors: Petrus Martens, Charles Kankelborg, Joseph Plowman

The objective of this project is to identify and analyze a large number of coronal loops using Hinode and the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO).

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, and, by analyzing their temperatures and densities, we hope to understand why the corona is much hotter than the sun's visible surface. We have developed software for interactive selection and automated analysis of these loops using data from SDO and Hinode, and would like to apply it to a large number of coronal loops. The REU portion of this work will involve identifying good loop data in the Hinode and SDO data sets, selecting the loops in the data, and analyzing them, using a method that has already been proven to be effective. The resulting catalog of loops will allow us to determine where (footpoints, midpoint, or in between) the loops are heated, shedding light on a long-standing problem in solar physics.