Instructors: Dana Longcope (MSU), Bin Chen (NJIT), Jiong Qiu (MSU), Adam Kowalski (CU)
Course Times:     Spring 2017, Mondays and Wednesdays, 12:00-1:30 pm MT
Location: Duane Physics, Room G-328 (most lectures webcast via WebEx)

Summary

This web-enabled course is the fourth offering of the George Ellery Hale Collaborative Graduate Education (COLLAGE) Program, a joint effort between CU Boulder, the National Solar Observatory (NSO), New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT), University of Hawaii (UH), New Mexico State University (NMSU), Montana State University (MSU), and the High Altitude Observatory (HAO).

This course will cover the physics and observation of solar flares and coronal mass ejections (CMEs). It will cover the basic physical principles involved in flares and CMEs, including gas dynamics, magnetohydrodynamics, kinetic theory, and radiation processes. It will also cover the methods used to observe and study flares, including visible and UV spectroscopy, X-ray spectroscopy, and radio astronomy. Prof. Steven Cranmer is listed as the CU-Boulder "professor of record," but the lectures will be given by a collaboration between four instructors (listed above).

At CU Boulder, this course is an elective for APS graduate students. No pre-requisite or co-requisite courses are mandated.

Course web pages from the main instructors:

The above pages contain the schedule of topics that were covered in detail.

  1. Wednesday, Jan. 18: Overview of flares and CMEs (Longcope)

  2. Monday, Jan. 23: CME fundamentals: MHD and instabilities (Longcope)

  3. Wednesday, Jan. 25: CME fundamentals: role of reconnection (Longcope)

  4. Monday, Jan. 30: CME fundamentals: instability and reconnection (Longcope)

  5. Wednesday, Feb. 1: CME observations: ribbon motions (Qiu)

  6. Monday, Feb. 6: CME observations: coronagraphs (Qiu)

  7. Wednesday, Feb. 8: CME observations: radio (Chen)

  8. Monday, Feb. 13: CME observations: radio and in situ (Chen)

  9. Wednesday, Feb. 15: Flare loop fundamentals: 1D gas dynamics, 0D models (Longcope)

  10. Wednesday, Feb. 22: Flare loop fundamentals: 1D gas dynamics & evaporation (Longcope)

  11. Monday, Feb. 27: Flare loop radiation hydrodynamics: line emission (Longcope)

  12. Wednesday, Mar. 1: Flare loop observations: EUV and X-ray light curves (Qiu)

  13. Monday, Mar. 6: Flare loop observations: EUV and X-ray light curves (Qiu)

  14. Wednesday, Mar. 8: Flare loop observations: Imaging and spectroscopy I (Chen)

  15. Monday, Mar. 20: Flare loop observations: Imaging and spectroscopy II (Chen)

  16. Wednesday, Mar. 22: Impulsive phase fundamentals: charged particle motion (Longcope)

  17. Monday, Mar. 27: Impulsive phase fundamentals: nonthermal particles & distribution functions (Longcope)

  18. Wednesday, Mar. 29: Impulsive phase fundamentals: nonthermal particles & the Fokker-Planck Equation (Longcope)

  19. Monday, Apr. 3: Impulsive phase fundamentals: nonthermal particles & stochastic acceleration (Longcope)

  20. Wednesday, Apr. 5: Impulsive phase radiation: Bremsstrahlung & gyrosynchrotron (Chen)

  21. Monday, Apr. 10: Impulsive phase radiation: Gyromagnetic radiation (Chen)

  22. Wednesday, Apr. 12: Impulsive phase radiation: Radio and HXR imaging spectroscopy (Chen)

  23. Monday, Apr. 17: Impulsive phase radiation: Radio and HXR imaging spectroscopy (Chen)

  24. Wednesday, Apr. 19: Introduction to radiative-hydrodynamic modeling: Dynamics with nonthermal particles (Kowalski)

  25. Monday, Apr. 24: Introduction to radiative-hydrodynamic modeling: RADYN Lab I (Kowalski)

  26. Wednesday, Apr. 26: Introduction to radiative-hydrodynamic modeling: RADYN Lab II (Kowalski)

  27. Monday, May 1: Stellar flares and course wrap-up (Kowalski)