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Session 70 - Solar Flares and Ejections.
Display session, Thursday, June 13
Tripp Commons,

[70.15] Atomic Models for Use in Radiation-Hydrodynamic Simulations of Flaring and Quiescent Atmospheres

D. T. Woods, G. H. Fisher (SSL/UCB), J. I. Castor (LLNL)

We report on the construction of a complete set of atomic models which will be used in future non-LTE radiation- hydrodynamic simulations of both quiescent and flaring atmospheres. In order for our atmospheric models to be self-consistent, they necessitate a treatment from the photosphere to the corona. As such, we need a vast array of atomic data from a number of species spanning a wide range of ion stages. We have therefore commenced on a project to produce atomic models of the most important radiators and absorbers in the Sun. We have used a suite of atomic physics codes at Lawrence Livermore National Lab to produce atomic models for all ion stages of H, He, C, N, O, Mg, Si, S, Ca, and Fe. We have performed extensive literature searches to assemble the results from the best atomic physics calculations to date for these species and have incorporated these results (where possible) into our models. Because these atomic models must accomodate self- consistent flare simulations in which the X-rays from the flaring corona are absorbed deeper in the photosphere and chromosphere, our models necessarily include the deatiling of many inner-shell vacant states. We have also computed most of the relevant Auger and Coster-Kronig transition rates for these inner-shell vacant states, many of which are not available in the literature. We will also present the ionization equilibrium and radiative loss curves from our atomic models in coronal equilibrium and compare them with existing results. This research is supported in part by NASA grant NAGW-3429 and NSF grant ATM-9505182.

Program listing for Thursday