Characteristics of Early Bursts during Flare Precursor

Advisors: Chunming Zhu, Jiong Qiu

Solar eruptions, including flares and coronal mass ejections, are manifestation of the most intense explosive energy release in the solar system, and drivers of the most hazardous space weather on Earth. Though a lot of progress has been made toward the understanding of the physical mechanisms responsible for solar eruptions, it is still not clear what triggers the eruption. In this project, we will analyze the data from Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO, a NASA mission) to investigate the characteristics of early bursts during the precursor phase of flares. This study on the locations and related physical properties of these early bursts is expected to bring new insight into the initiation of solar eruptions.

In this project, students will run models and analyze astronomical observations, and learn about the Sun's atmosphere and magnetic fields. Experience with IDL or similar programming languages is desired though not required.