Multiwavelength and Multiscale Study of Solar Flares

Chang Liu

Solar flares are enormous explosions in the solar atmosphere, and are believed to result from the sudden release of energy stored in magnetic fields. Flares are now identified as an important source of disturbances that affect space weather, while many aspects of the basic flare process are still not well understood. The central theme of my research has been to investigate the small and large-scale magnetic structures and their evolution associated with flares in the context of magnetic reconnection, which can help advance the understanding of the various properties of flares and related phenomena, including their origin, precursors, and evolution of morphology in solar atmosphere.

The research presented in this talk relied upon multiwavelength observations of flares from hard X-rays to radio wavelengths obtained from many space- and ground-based instruments. The topics in the flare core regions include microflares, flare-induced evolution of the photospheric magnetic field, and sigmoids. The large scale study includes remote brightenings, Moreton waves, type II radio bursts, and coronal mass ejections. The results include several first-time observations, such as penumbra decay, and ribbon-like HXR sources and their implications to the distribution of flare accelerated electrons.