STELLAR : a EU twinning project on LOFAR data analysis and knowledge transfer

The Scientific and Technological Excellence by Leveraging LOFAR Advancements in Radio Astronomy (STELLAR) is a project of mutual collaboration and know-how transfer in the field of radio astronomy, solar physics and space weather using the LOFAR instrument and data. Two institutions from Bulgaria, benefit from technical and scientific know-how exchange from world- leading RA institutions - ASTRON (the Netherlands) and DIAS (Ireland) via series of training hands-on sessions, workshops, seminars and project-focused schools for both students and senior staff. The poster presents the activities so far and future plans. All results, links to videos and outreach activities are hosted at a dedicated web-site. The STELLAR project is funded by the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 952439. It is coordinated by the Institute of Astronomy, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences

Comprehensive Characterization of Solar Eruptions with Remote and In-Situ Observations, and Modeling : The Major Solar Events on 4 November 2015

Solar energetic particles (SEPs) are an important product of solar activity. They are connected to solar active regions and flares, coronal mass ejections (CMEs), EUV waves, shocks, Type II and III radio emissions, and X-ray bursts. These phenomena are major probes of the partition of energy in solar eruptions, as well as for the organization, dynamics, and relaxation of coronal and interplanetary magnetic fields. Many of these phenomena cause terrestrial space weather, posing multiple hazards for humans and their technology from space to the ground. Since particular flares, shocks, CMEs, and EUV waves produce SEP events but others do not, since propagation effects from the low corona to 1 AU appear important for some events but not others, and since Type II and III radio emissions and X-ray bursts are sometimes produced by energetic particles leaving these acceleration sites, it is necessary to study the whole system with a multi-frequency and multi-instrument perspective that combines both in-situ and remote observations with detailed modeling of phenomena. This article demonstrates this comprehensive approach and shows its necessity by analyzing a trio of unusual and striking solar eruptions, radio and X-ray bursts, and SEP events that occurred on 4 November 2015. These events show both strong similarities and differences from standard events and each other, despite having very similar interplanetary conditions and only two flare sites and CME genesis regions. They are therefore major targets for further in-depth observational studies, and for testing both existing and new theories and models. We present the complete suite of relevant observations, complement them with initial modeling results for the SEPs and interplanetary magnetic connectivity, and develop a plausible scenario for the eruptions. Perhaps controversially, the SEPs appear to be reasonably modelled and evidence points to significant non-Parker magnetic fields. Based on the very limited modeling available, we identify the aspects that are and are not understood, and we discuss ideas that may lead to improved understanding of the SEP, radio, and space-weather events.Peer reviewe

Review of solar energetic particle models

Solar Energetic Particle (SEP) events are interesting from a scientific perspective as they are the product of a broad set of physical processes from the corona out through the extent of the heliosphere, and provide insight into processes of particle acceleration and transport that are widely applicable in astrophysics. From the operations perspective, SEP events pose a radiation hazard for aviation, electronics in space, and human space exploration, in particular for missions outside of the Earth’s protective magnetosphere including to the Moon and Mars. Thus, it is critical to improve the scientific understanding of SEP events and use this understanding to develop and improve SEP forecasting capabilities to support operations. Many SEP models exist or are in development using a wide variety of approaches and with differing goals. These include computationally intensive physics-based models, fast and light empirical models, machine learning-based models, and mixed-model approaches. The aim of this paper is to summarize all of the SEP models currently developed in the scientific community, including a description of model approach, inputs and outputs, free parameters, and any published validations or comparisons with data.</p

LOFAR-BG Current State

In May 2020, the infrastructure project LOFAR- BG, coordinated by the Institute of Astronomy and National Astronomical Observatory (IANAO), was approved for inclusion in the updated National Roadmap for Scientific Infrastructure 2020-2027 (NRSI), created and supported by Bulgaria’s Ministry of Education and Science. Currently, members of the national consortium for managing the project also include the Dept. of Astronomy of Sofia University, the Dept. of Astronomy of Shumen University, as well as the Dept. of Radio Communication and Video Technologies of the Technical University-Sofia. In the future, we will be adding new partners to the consortium

Coronal shock acceleration and heliospheric transport of solar energetic protons

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Boston University PLEASE NOTE: Boston University Libraries did not receive an Authorization To Manage form for this thesis or dissertation. It is therefore not openly accessible, though it may be available by request. If you are the author or principal advisor of this work and would like to request open access for it, please contact us at [email protected]. Thank you.Solar flares and coronal mass ejections (CME) in the Sun's atmosphere produce highly energetic charged particles during violent bursts of activity. Protons, the most numerous and important species of these solar energetic particles (SEP), accelerate and propagate throughout the heliosphere, probing the interplanetary transport conditions. They also present a significant radiation hazard to space operations. Nevertheless, SEP acceleration in the low corona is currently not well constrained and poorly understood. In this dissertation, I examine off-limb extreme ultraviolet (EUV) wave dynamics between 1.3 and 2.0 solar radii in the corona, and I show that the EUV signatures are consistent with CME-driven shocks. Therefore, such shocks may form very low in the corona. I also develop a data-driven model for estimating the maximum energy to which protons may be accelerated in coronal shocks. I apply it to an observed shock and show that it may accelerate protons up to tens of MeV during its fast coronal passage, consistent with in-situ observations. To explore further coronal SEP acceleration by CME-driven shocks, I modify a global, 3D numerical model for interplanetary SEP transport for the coronal conditions, and adapt it to incorporate results from a realistic magnetohydrodynamic coronal and CME model. Furthermore, I apply a diffusive shock acceleration model, which explicitly treats proton energization at traveling shocks, to an MHD simulation of a real CME event. I find that the source population becomes strongly accelerated. In addition, I simulate the proton transport between the Sun and Earth, and find that the modeled fluxes are consistent with particle observations near Earth. Results suggest that CME-driven shocks in the corona may be the primary source of SEPs in solar storms. In addition, conditions along coronal shock fronts vary greatly, influencing the amount of acceleration. Finally, I model the global proton transport between Earth and 5 AU during a very large SEP event. I obtain radial gradients of peak fluxes and radiation doses for space weather applications, and I find that simulated and observed fluxes agree reasonably well. This suggests that most CME shocks are not efficient proton accelerators beyond 1 AU

Multi-Instrument Observations and Tracking of a Coronal Mass Ejection Front From Low to Middle Corona

The shape and dynamics of coronal mass ejections (CMEs) varies significantly based on the instrument and wavelength used. This has led to significant debate about the proper definitions of CME/shock fronts, pile-up/compression regions, and cores observed in projection in optically thin vs. optically thin emission. Here we present an observational analysis of the evolving shape and kinematics of a large-scale CME that occurred on May 7, 2021 on the eastern limb of the Sun as seen from 1 au. The eruption was observed continuously, consecutively by the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) telescope suite on the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO), the ground-based COronal Solar Magnetism Observatory (COSMO) K-coronagraph (K-Cor) on Mauna Loa, and the C2 and C3 telescopes of the Large Angle Solar Coronagraph (LASCO) on the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SoHO). We apply the recently developed Wavetrack Python suite for automated detection and tracking of coronal eruptive features to evaluate and compare the evolving shape of the CME front as it propagated from the solar surface out to 20 solar radii. Our tool allows tracking features beyond just the leading edge and is an important step towards semi-automatic manufacturing of training sets for training data-driven image segmentation models for solar imaging. Our findings confirm the expected strong connection between EUV waves and CMEs. Our novel, detailed analysis sheds observational light on the details of EUV wave-shock-CME relations that is lacking for the gap region between the low and middle corona