SOLPROM-SMS

"Solar Prominences: Stability, Magnetohydrodynamics, and Seismology"

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 Obiettivo del progetto (Objective)

'The solar corona is a natural laboratory to study the behavior and properties of plasmas under conditions that cannot be realized in a laboratory on Earth. Understanding the plasma behaviour in the solar atmosphere is a necessary prerequisite for our understanding of plasma behaviour in the atmospheres of other stars and space weather. The focus in this proposal is on Solar Prominences, spectacular large-scale magnetic structures of the solar corona. Very recent observations have reported on exciting prominence dynamics with unprecedented temporal and spatial resolution as, e.g., oscillations, waves, flows, and instabilities in the fine structure of prominences (threads). Thread oscillations have been interpreted as magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) waves. Flows may drive Kelvin-Helmholtz instabilities (KHI) and resonant flow instabilities (RFI), while the fine structure may be thermally unstable. Despite the timeliness and relevance of the observations, these phenomena are not well-understood. The present research project aims to investigate oscillatory dynamics and stability of prominence threads from a theoretical point of view. This proposal is organized into two sub-projects. The main goals of sub-project A will be to study MHD wave properties in prominence threads. The combination of our theoretical results with the observations will allow us to apply the technique of MHD seismology to indirectly infer the values of relevant physical parameters of the prominence plasma. In sub-project B, we will focus on prominence plasma instabilities. We will study thermal instability of threads and both KHI and RFI driven by shear flows. Throughout this investigation, we will make use of analytical methods in combination with advanced numerical simulations. The research results of this project will be a breakthrough for our knowledge of the physics of solar prominences, and this proposal will strongly promote the applicant's career development within the European Research Area'

Introduzione (Teaser)

The surface and corona of the Sun contain magnetic structures called solar prominences, which are made of plasma expelled by a solar flare. Researchers have studied new solar data in great detail to advance our theoretical understanding of prominences.

Descrizione progetto (Article)

Recent observations have provided unprecedented details about the nature and behaviour of solar prominences. This includes information gathered about waves, flows, oscillations and instabilities in the corona.

'Solar prominences: Stability, magnetohydrodynamics, and seismology' (SOLPROM-SMS) was an EU-funded research project geared towards using this new data to develop a better theoretical understanding of solar prominences. The project investigated the mathematics and fluid dynamics of these prominences over time.

In the first phase of the project, the team studied the wave properties of the solar prominences and how they changed. Using this data, researchers improved their models of how prominences form, and established new laws that govern properties such as duration and frequency.

The second phase of the project investigated instabilities in the solar prominences. Several new conclusions were reached on how the instabilities form, grow or decline, and it was shown that instabilities can occur at lower temperatures than previously thought.

Understanding solar prominences will advance our knowledge of the Sun and of space weather in general. SOLPROM-SMS has used new data on solar prominences to move our theoretical understanding of the Sun's atmosphere forward.