Add content for research pages

_research/active_region.md

@@ -6,7 +6,14 @@ people:
   - Barnes
   - Bradshaw
 ---
+The main research objective of this five-year CAREER project is to investigate the physical mechanisms responsible for the heating of the solar atmosphere. This project explores challenging new regimes of physics, including: 
 
-AR core models with loops work by Barnes/Bradshaw; Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ut commodo, turpis sed hendrerit volutpat, nisi tellus interdum eros, eget iaculis nisi tellus ut sapien. Quisque pulvinar vitae felis maximus finibus. Vestibulum egestas mi quis sem pretium finibus. Sed feugiat tincidunt semper. Proin pellentesque rutrum dui at commodo. Etiam eget urna ut mi suscipit pulvinar. Nullam accumsan tincidunt sodales. Pellentesque id lorem ac dui vulputate faucibus eu et tortor. Vivamus consequat ullamcorper maximus. Ut vulputate tincidunt ante non mattis. Nulla feugiat quis mauris id bibendum. Donec cursus accumsan leo vel fringilla. Praesent turpis est, ultrices ac leo ut, convallis bibendum ex. Etiam et eros egestas, pretium mi vitae, sodales tortor. Vestibulum finibus est semper iaculis dapibus. Pellentesque aliquam tristique quam, id viverra nisl tempus quis.
-<img src="{{site.baseurl}}images/SDO_AIA.jpeg" />
-<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/fcqqo3HuEjM" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
+1. non-equilibrium ionization due to the short timescales of plasma evolution during the heating events on the Sun; and 
+2. substantial heat flux limiting and de-localization where the global plasma structure must be considered in the transport of energy through the solar atmosphere. 
+
+The proposed research program has two primary goals: 
+
+1. learn about the physics of the almost entirely unexplored regime of very high temperature, low density plasma in the solar corona; and
+2. use what is learned to find strong constraints on the properties of coronal heating. 
+
+The program of research presents the opportunity to study a new regime of thermal energy transport, in which the global structure of the plasma must be considered, and to determine how it affects the overall energy balance of the Sun's upper atmosphere. This is of value to other areas of space plasma physics. By combining what is learned from the hot emission with what is already known from the warm emission, strong constraints will be placed on the properties of coronal heating.

_research/flares.md

@@ -8,4 +8,10 @@ people:
  - Mandage
 ---
 
-Solar flare work by Alexander/Bradshaw Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ut commodo, turpis sed hendrerit volutpat, nisi tellus interdum eros, eget iaculis nisi tellus ut sapien. Quisque pulvinar vitae felis maximus finibus. Vestibulum egestas mi quis sem pretium finibus. Sed feugiat tincidunt semper. Proin pellentesque rutrum dui at commodo. Etiam eget urna ut mi suscipit pulvinar. Nullam accumsan tincidunt sodales. Pellentesque id lorem ac dui vulputate faucibus eu et tortor. Vivamus consequat ullamcorper maximus. Ut vulputate tincidunt ante non mattis. Nulla feugiat quis mauris id bibendum. Donec cursus accumsan leo vel fringilla. Praesent turpis est, ultrices ac leo ut, convallis bibendum ex. Etiam et eros egestas, pretium mi vitae, sodales tortor. Vestibulum finibus est semper iaculis dapibus. Pellentesque aliquam tristique quam, id viverra nisl tempus quis.
+Working in collaboration with Dr. James McAteer (New Mexico State University), Dr. Ryan Milligan (University of Glasgow), Rice graduate student Revati Mandage and NMSU graduate student Sean Sellers, the goal of this project is to achieve a physical understanding of the evolution of a flaring atmosphere as it responds to a powerful energy release. This study addresses fundamental issues of plasma physics and atomic physics at the heart of modern solar flare research. Our approach combines spectroscopic and imaging data with sophisticated numerical and forward models, to elucidate the nature of the mass and energy transport through the solar atmosphere leading to the creation of bright, post-flare arcade loops; and how the transport processes change as flares progress and new arcade loops are created.
+
+This research is expected to dramatically expand our understanding of the physics and evolution of compact solar flares, and the X-ray and EUV variability of the Sun. It is of particular relevance to three of the four Heliophysics Decadal survey science goals: 
+
+1. Determine the origins of the Sunís activity and predict the variations in the space environment
+2. Determine the interaction of the Sun with the solar system and the interstellar medium
+3. Discover and characterize fundamental processes that occur both within the heliosphere and throughout the universeî.

_research/forward_model.md

@@ -7,5 +7,13 @@ people:
  - Bradshaw
  - Bahauddin
 ---
+Developing techniques to produce advanced 3D models and visualizations of solar active regions from magnetic field extrapolations, field-aligned hydrodynamic models, and a sophisticated treatment of the key atomic processes that govern the radiation spectrum. The visualizations are derived from the 3D models by using the technical specifications of the fleet of observing instruments. These predicted observations can be directly compared with real observations to determine how well the underlying physical models reproduce the observed patterns and dynamics of the active region plasma. This work is being conducted in collaboration with graduate student Will Barnes, undergraduate physics major Han (Lily) Han, who is undertaking research for her senior thesis with my group, and with Dr. Nicki Viall of the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center.
 
-Forward modeling of loops work by Will, Steve, and Shah Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ut commodo, turpis sed hendrerit volutpat, nisi tellus interdum eros, eget iaculis nisi tellus ut sapien. Quisque pulvinar vitae felis maximus finibus. Vestibulum egestas mi quis sem pretium finibus. Sed feugiat tincidunt semper. Proin pellentesque rutrum dui at commodo. Etiam eget urna ut mi suscipit pulvinar. Nullam accumsan tincidunt sodales. Pellentesque id lorem ac dui vulputate faucibus eu et tortor. Vivamus consequat ullamcorper maximus. Ut vulputate tincidunt ante non mattis. Nulla feugiat quis mauris id bibendum. Donec cursus accumsan leo vel fringilla. Praesent turpis est, ultrices ac leo ut, convallis bibendum ex. Etiam et eros egestas, pretium mi vitae, sodales tortor. Vestibulum finibus est semper iaculis dapibus. Pellentesque aliquam tristique quam, id viverra nisl tempus quis.
+<div class="row">
+<div class="col-md-8 offset-md-2">
+<figure class="figure">
+<img src="{{ site.baseurl }}images/ar_visualization.png" class="figure-img img-fluid rounded" alt="Active region visualization">
+<figcaption class="figure-caption text-center"><em>One of the products of this work "Simulating Million-degree Plasma in the Solar Corona" (by Will Barnes) won second place in the Natural Sciences Scientific Image Contest.</em></figcaption>
+</figure>
+</div>
+</div>

_research/nei_processes.md

@@ -7,4 +7,18 @@ people:
  - Bahauddin
 ---
 
-NEQ signatures in IRIS images work by Bahauddin/Bradshaw Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ut commodo, turpis sed hendrerit volutpat, nisi tellus interdum eros, eget iaculis nisi tellus ut sapien. Quisque pulvinar vitae felis maximus finibus. Vestibulum egestas mi quis sem pretium finibus. Sed feugiat tincidunt semper. Proin pellentesque rutrum dui at commodo. Etiam eget urna ut mi suscipit pulvinar. Nullam accumsan tincidunt sodales. Pellentesque id lorem ac dui vulputate faucibus eu et tortor. Vivamus consequat ullamcorper maximus. Ut vulputate tincidunt ante non mattis. Nulla feugiat quis mauris id bibendum. Donec cursus accumsan leo vel fringilla. Praesent turpis est, ultrices ac leo ut, convallis bibendum ex. Etiam et eros egestas, pretium mi vitae, sodales tortor. Vestibulum finibus est semper iaculis dapibus. Pellentesque aliquam tristique quam, id viverra nisl tempus quis.
+
+The Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) has revealed a wealth of dynamic, fine-scale transition region structures; these structures may account for the so-called "unresolved fine structure" in the solar transition region and the unexplained excess of transition region emission. In particular, small scale "loops" are observed in active region cores when there is strong magnetic shear. Typical ionization times for the transition region lines observed by IRIS are tens of seconds, which are approximately the same as the lifetimes of the structures, and drives the population of emitting ions out of thermal equilibrium with the plasma. This makes understanding the evolution of these loops impossible using standard observational diagnostic techniques. However, because of the high quality IRIS data and the existence of several transition region lines in the different Solar Dynamics Observatory / Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (SDO/AIA) channels, we have the information required to constrain models of the ionization state and ultimately determine the energy deposition in these structures.
+
+Working in collaboration with Dr. Amy Winebarger (NASA Marshall Space Flight Center), we are investigating the fine-scale structure of the transition region by: 
+
+1. characterizing the evolution of transition region loops using both IRIS and SDO/AIA data; 
+2. modeling the loops with a hydrodynamic code, solving for the time-dependent ionization state, finding their temperature and density evolution, and consequently their energy requirements; and 
+3. building time-dependent 3D models of the loops using a new forward modeling code that combines hydrodynamic solutions with magnetic field extrapolations to synthesize observable quantities for direct comparison with our IRIS and AIA observations. 
+
+By quantitatively assessing the ability of our models to reproduce the observations we gain insights into the underlying physical processes and will thereby achieve our science goal to understand the energy balance of transition region structures observed by IRIS in non-equilibrium emission.
+
+In a second project with Dr. Paola Testa (Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory) we are addressing fundamental questions that lie at the heart of coronal heating research. We are analyzing IRIS imaging and spectroscopic data from the transition region foot-points of coronal loops, in non-flaring active regions, to investigate the effects of non-equilibrium ionization on the emission observed during impulsive heating localized in the corona. IRIS provides unprecedented spatial and temporal resolution for spectral observations in the transition region and by combining data analysis with numerical and forward modeling we
+
+* develop diagnostics to determine when we should be concerned about non-equilibrium ionization; and 
+* show how to account for non-equilibrium ionization when diagnosing the properties of coronal heating from transition region emission.

_research/plasma_physics.md

@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+---
+layout: default
+title: Fundamental Plasma Physics
+short_description: Fundamental physics and energetics of astrophysical plasmas
+people:
+ - Barnes
+ - Bradshaw
+ - Bahauddin
+---
+Working with Prof. Gordon Emslie (Western Kentucky University, KY) and Dr. Eduard Kontar (University of Glasgow, UK), we are developing methods to investigate and quantify the role of magnetic turbulence in limiting the efficiency of thermal conduction by electrons due to scattering in pitch-angle space ( \\( \cos{\theta}\to0 \\) ), when the spatial scale of magnetic fluctuations is of order the mean-free-path for Coulomb collisions, or larger. This has broad applicability from astrophysical plasmas (e.g. accretion disks surrounding hot, young stars forming exo-planets), high-energy astrophysics (supernovae, jets), stellar atmospheres, and nuclear fusion plasmas. We have carried out an extensive analytical and numerical study applied to the solar corona.
+
+Another strand of our research concerned with studying fundamental plasma physics is collaborating with Prof. Tom Killian's Cold Atoms group to help interpret experimental results through the lens of numerical models. We are developing a new, multi-dimensional plasma physics code designed to facilitate numerical experiments to be run in tandem with (and with high fidelity to) the Cold Atoms group's laboratory experiments.

_research/star_planets.md

@@ -8,5 +8,4 @@ people:
   - Farrish
   - Sciola
 ---
-
-Star/planet interaction work by Alexander/Bradshaw/Sciola Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ut commodo, turpis sed hendrerit volutpat, nisi tellus interdum eros, eget iaculis nisi tellus ut sapien. Quisque pulvinar vitae felis maximus finibus. Vestibulum egestas mi quis sem pretium finibus. Sed feugiat tincidunt semper. Proin pellentesque rutrum dui at commodo. Etiam eget urna ut mi suscipit pulvinar. Nullam accumsan tincidunt sodales. Pellentesque id lorem ac dui vulputate faucibus eu et tortor. Vivamus consequat ullamcorper maximus. Ut vulputate tincidunt ante non mattis. Nulla feugiat quis mauris id bibendum. Donec cursus accumsan leo vel fringilla. Praesent turpis est, ultrices ac leo ut, convallis bibendum ex. Etiam et eros egestas, pretium mi vitae, sodales tortor. Vestibulum finibus est semper iaculis dapibus. Pellentesque aliquam tristique quam, id viverra nisl tempus quis.
+We are building global magnetic field models for active stars and calculating the total extreme ultra-violet and X-ray radiation from their atmospheres, based on our experience with the Sun. One of our aims is to determine how strongly extra-solar planets can be irradiated by this energetic electromagnetic radiation from their parent stars, which has important consequences for their atmospheric chemistry and habitability.