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"
Fields of science
Topic(s)
Call for proposal
FP7-PEOPLE-2010-IEF
See other projects for this call
Funding Scheme
MC-IEF - Intra-European Fellowships (IEF)Coordinator
3000 Leuven
Belgium