Speaker: Hakeem Oluseyi, Florida Institute of Technology
Abstract: The solar transition region is an important region of the Sun's atmosphere to understand since all the energy that is deposited into the corona must pass through this component. Yet, after over three decades of study, the morphology, generation and energy balance of the Sun's transition region atmosphere is poorly understood. Several classes of discrete plasma structures have been identified in the transition region but their various contributions to the solar luminosity and variability have not been determined nor have their relationships to the dynamics and interactions of magnetic flux distributions been clearly revealed. The connectivity between the transition region and the corona has been heavily debated but also remains unresolved. The large-scale structure of the transition region, including the disappearance of the "chromospheric" network at temperatures above 1 MK, also remains unexplained. We have undertaken the task of studying several classes of transition region structures to address the problems introduced above. I describe in this talk studies of discrete plasma structures (funnels, loops, and bright points) and their ensembles to determine the partitioning of energy between them. I test a statistical model of the generation, distribution and properties of upper transition region bright points as a consequence of the convection-driven recycling of solar magnetic fields. I present a new model of the upper transition region structure and implications for the physics of magnetic reconnection in plasmas at upper transition region temperatures and densities. I will also discuss how these results may be extrapolated to explore the detailed magnetohydrodynamic conditions on stellar surfaces and a recent technological advancement I have developed that may substantially improve the spatial resolution of solar observations.