This image of the sun is taken in soft X-rays by the Japanese spacecraft Yohkoh (meaning sunrise). The bright regions are associated with active regions where solar flares and coronal mass ejections are driven by colliding magnetic field regions. Our group investigates the origin of solar flares and the acceleration of energetic particles associated with flares using computer simulations. Present research involves using 3-D MHD simulations to investigate the global magnetic field configurations produced by motions in the low solar atmosphere. Particle simulations are used to look at localized regions where wave-particle interactions and strong currents combine to accelerate particle to near relativistic energies.

simulation results (43 K)

Who's Doing It:

• Robert M. Winglee.