[Astronomy seminar] Astronomy seminar Friday 5/10 at 10:30 in FC61

[Astronomy seminar announcements]

Speaker: Stephanie Yardley (University of St. Andrews)

When/where: Friday October 5 at 10:30 in FC61 (Astronomy corridor, 6th 
floor)

Title:Simulating the coronal evolution and eruption of bipolar active 
regions

Abstract:
To gain a better understanding of the formation and evolution of the 
pre-eruptive structure of CMEs requires the direct measurement of the 
coronal magnetic field, which is currently very difficult. An 
alternative approach, such as the simulation of the photospheric 
magnetic field must be used to infer the pre-eruptive magnetic structure 
and coronal evolution prior to eruption. The evolution of the coronal 
magnetic field of a small sub-set of bipolar active regions is simulated 
by applying the magnetofrictonal relaxation technique of Mackay et al. 
(2011). A sequence of photospheric line-of-sight magnetograms produced 
by SDO/HMI are used to drive the simulation and continuously evolve the 
coronal magnetic field of the active regions through a series of 
non-linear force-free equilibria. The simulation is started during the 
first stages of active region emergence so that the full evolution from 
emergence to decay can be simulated. A comparison of the simulation 
results with SDO/AIA observations show that many aspects of the observed 
coronal evolution of the active regions can be reproduced, including the 
majority of eruptions associated with the regions.

Stephanie will be around on Wednesday and Thursday as well. Contact her 
host Tine Libbrecht <tine.libbrecht at astro.su.se> if you want to schedule 
a meeting.

All welcome!