Exploring Relationship between Solar X-ray Irradiance and Magnetic Flux

Kelvin Scheurer

Montana State University Solar Physics REU 2024

Adviser: Dr. Keiji Yoshimura

About Me

I am a rising Senior at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, pursuing a degree with a major in Physics with an Astronomy emphasis and a minor in Mathematics. This summer I was a part of the 2024 Solar Physics REU program at Montana State University. I joined in order to explore my interests in astrophysics while gaining invaluable research experience. During this experience I hope to learn more about the solar/space physics field before I begin applying to graduate school.

Project Description

The Solar corona is the ouotermost part of the Sun's atmosphere. The temperature of the corona is known to be extremely hot when compared to the Sun's visable surface (the corona known to be over a million Kelvin and the visible surface of the sun being around 6000 Kelvin). While it is believed the magnetic field is considered to play a key role in the heating of the corona the exact heating mechanism is still unknown. Previous research done by Pevtsov et al (2003) showed relationship between X-ray luminosity and magnetic flux.

Description of the image

In this project I will expand the data regions, more specificaly plot between the X-ray bright points (XBP) and the active region (AR). To do this I will use more modern instrumentation, namely the X-Ray Telescope (XRT) aboard the Hinode satellite (international mission among Japan/US/UK) and the Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager (HMI) aboard Solar Dynamic Observatory (SDO, NASA mission). I will use the data that has been obtained for the period longer than the whole activity cycle of the Sun (11 years) to reproduce and expand the data region.

Below are two images, the first from Hinode's XRT and the second from SDO's HMI. Both images were taken on May 5th, 2024.


Description of image 1 Description of image 2

References

NASA. (n.d.). SDO. NASA. https://sdo.gsfc.nasa.gov/data/aiahmi/

XRT Synoptic Composites Daily Page. XRT daily Synoptic 20240530. (n.d.). https://solar.physics.montana.edu/HINODE/XRT/SCIA/daily_pages/2024/20240530_SYN.html

Pevtsov et al., 2003, ApJ, 598, 1387