We propose to combine a state-of-the-art magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulations describing magnetic flux emergence and active formation with vector magnetic field observations and narrow-band and…

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) awarded a $599,572.13 grant to the Regents of the University of Michigan, Office of Research and Sponsored Projects, to conduct research on the physical processes that lead to large-scale solar eruptions, including flares and coronal mass ejections (CMEs). The research aims to understand how magnetic energy and helicity are transported from the solar convection zone to the corona, the mechanisms that trigger CMEs, the relationship between thermal energy deposition and coronal emissions, and how coronal flow patterns relate to the buildup of free energy and helicity. The work will leverage state-of-the-art magnetohydrodynamic simulations, vector magnetic field observations, and spectroscopic data. There was no set-aside designation for this grant, which has a completion date of February 16, 2023.

We propose to combine a state-of-the-art magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulations describing magnetic flux emergence and active formation with vector magnetic field observations and narrow-band and spectroscopic observations to reveal the physical processes that lead to large-scale eruptions manifest as flares and coronal mass ejections (cmes). We will pursue four fundamental science goals:i) determine how free magnetic energy and helicity are transported from the convection zone to the corona to reveal the processes by which active region magnetic fields become energized to erupt II) understand CME trigger mechanisms for cmes, allowing for both resistive and ideal MHD instabilities III) examine the thermal energy deposition in the corona and how IT relates to emission seen across the extreme ultraviolet spectrum IV) determine how coronal flow patterns revealed by spectroscopic dopplergrams are related to the buildup of free energy and helicity in the corona. We will study the formation of and evolution of active regions with realistic large-scale simulations of magnetic flux emerging from the convective solar interior and passing into global corona. These simulations will be completed with the recently developed spherical wedge active region model (swarm). Based on the bats-r-US code from the university of michigan, the swarm uses a spherical grid to allow IT to capture large-scale active regions, while using adaptive mesh refinement to resolve the photosphere pressure scale height as well as the magnetic current sheets. The current production model extends 8X16 degrees (100X200 MM) and reaches a depth of 35 MM, sufficient to capture a large active region. The use of chianti tables and radiative loss terms (w. Abbett 2007) allow for efficient calculation of the temperature structure of the solar atmosphere from the super-adiabatic gradient that drives convection to the optically thin corona. We have coupled the swarm to our global scale coronal model, the alfven wave solar model (awsom) using the space weather modeling framework (swmf), which allows the outflow from the swarm to pass onto into the global scale corona. In order to verify the model and interpret observations we will quantitatively compare the model with SDO/HMI vector magnetograms and SDO/AIA extreme ultraviolet images of emerging flux regions. We will draw upon the vast archive of spaceweather HMI active region patch (sharp) observations to make comparisons to active regions with similar overall morphology and time evolution found in our simulations. These comparisons will inform US of how specific active region magnetic structures form as well as better determine how free magnetic energy and helicity are transported from the convection zone. Comparisons with narrow-band SDO/AIA observations will reveal the temperature structure, and how IT relates to magnetic topology and energy deposition in the corona. Finally, comparisons of observed and synthetic spectroscopic images and dopplergrams will reveal the coronal velocity structure and how IT relates to the buildup of free energy and helicity.