Three-dimensional Radiative-magnetohydrodynamic Modeling of Particle-beam Heating of the Solar Atmosphere
- 1New Jersey Institute of Technology
- 2NASA Ames Research Center
Abstract
While solar flares are primarily associated with enhanced ultraviolet and X-ray emission, a subset of flares exhibit significant continuum brightening in visible light and are classified as white-light flares (WLFs). Despite extensive observational and modeling efforts, the physical mechanisms responsible for the compact, short-lived photospheric brightenings in WLF kernels observed during the impulsive phase of solar flares remain uncertain. Thick-target electron-beam models typically deposit energy in the upper chromosphere, and their ability to reproduce the magnitude and spatial localization of photospheric continuum enhancements observed in WLF kernels remains an open question. To investigate the role of self-consistent atmospheric structuring and multidimensional hydrodynamic transport in flare energy deposition, we perform three-dimensional radiative-MHD simulations of electron-beam heating using the StellarBox code for a beam energy flux density of 10 ¹² erg s ⁻¹ cm ⁻² and low-energy cutoffs of 10–25 keV. We then compute Fe I 6173 Å Stokes profiles using the RH 1.5D radiative transfer code for direct comparison with Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager (HMI) observations. The simulations produce strong upper-chromospheric heating, multiple shock fronts, and continuum enhancements up to a factor of 2.5 relative to preflare levels, comparable to continuum enhancements observed during strong X-class WLFs. A comparison with one-dimensional RADYN simulations highlights the influence of fine-scale structuring on flare dynamics and continuum emission that arises in three-dimensional geometry.
Related
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BibTeX
@article{granovsky2026threedimensional,
title = {{Three-dimensional Radiative-magnetohydrodynamic Modeling of Particle-beam Heating of the Solar Atmosphere}},
author = {Samuel Granovsky and Alexander G. Kosovichev and Irina N. Kitiashvili and Alan A. Wray},
journal = {The Astrophysical Journal},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.3847/1538-4357/aea612},
url = {https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-4357/aea612},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Three-dimensional Radiative-magnetohydrodynamic Modeling of Particle-beam Heating of the Solar Atmosphere
AU - Samuel Granovsky
AU - Alexander G. Kosovichev
AU - Irina N. Kitiashvili
AU - Alan A. Wray
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/01
JO - The Astrophysical Journal
DO - 10.3847/1538-4357/aea612
UR - https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-4357/aea612
AB - While solar flares are primarily associated with enhanced ultraviolet and X-ray emission, a subset of flares exhibit significant continuum brightening in visible light and are classified as white-light flares (WLFs). Despite extensive observational and modeling efforts, the physical mechanisms responsible for the compact, short-lived photospheric brightenings in WLF kernels observed during the impulsive phase of solar flares remain uncertain. Thick-target electron-beam models typically deposit energy in the upper chromosphere, and their ability to reproduce the magnitude and spatial localization of photospheric continuum enhancements observed in WLF kernels remains an open question. To investigate the role of self-consistent atmospheric structuring and multidimensional hydrodynamic transport in flare energy deposition, we perform three-dimensional radiative-MHD simulations of electron-beam heating using the StellarBox code for a beam energy flux density of 10 ¹² erg s ⁻¹ cm ⁻² and low-energy cutoffs of 10–25 keV. We then compute Fe I 6173 Å Stokes profiles using the RH 1.5D radiative transfer code for direct comparison with Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager (HMI) observations. The simulations produce strong upper-chromospheric heating, multiple shock fronts, and continuum enhancements up to a factor of 2.5 relative to preflare levels, comparable to continuum enhancements observed during strong X-class WLFs. A comparison with one-dimensional RADYN simulations highlights the influence of fine-scale structuring on flare dynamics and continuum emission that arises in three-dimensional geometry.
SN - 0004-637X
SN - 1538-4357
ER -