A New Framework for Modeling Solar Flares from Magnetohydrodynamic to Kinetic Processes
7 affiliations
- 1Solar Physics Laboratory
- 2University of Glasgow
- 3Catholic University of America
- 4American University
- 5Space Weather Laboratory
- 6University of Maryland
- 7NASA Marshall Space Flight Center
Abstract
Physical processes in solar flares span many orders of magnitude in spatiotemporal scales, so a single unified model accounting for all relevant processes remains computationally intractable. Instead, specialized codes have been developed, targeting specific domains that tackle specific aspects of the solar flare problem. Here, we present a comprehensive framework that links three models to capture flare initiation and energy release, the subsequent particle acceleration, the propagation and thermalization of those particles, and ultimately the heating of the lower solar atmosphere. We use the 2.5D ARMS magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) code to model stressing of the magnetic field in a simulated active region, the formation of a current sheet, magnetic reconnection, and the evolution of newly formed flare loops. We use the conditions in the ARMS current sheet to initialize the kglobal model, which predicts time-dependent nonthermal electron and proton distributions. Finally, we use RADYN+FP to inject these distributions into a newly reconnected ARMS loop and compute subsequent particle transport, atmospheric heating, and radiative emissions. This is the first detailed presentation of a RADYN+FP simulation tracking nonthermal electrons and protons in the same loop. As well as discussing the interesting physics that takes place, we note how this results in white-light flare emission height consistent with observations. This work is a first step toward building a fully 3D flare modeling framework.
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BibTeX
@article{allred2026framework,
title = {{A New Framework for Modeling Solar Flares from Magnetohydrodynamic to Kinetic Processes}},
author = {Joel C. Allred and Graham S. Kerr and Silvina E. Guidoni and Joel T. Dahlin and Marc Swisdak and Judith T. Karpen and Valeriy Tenishev},
journal = {The Astrophysical Journal},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.3847/1538-4357/aeb000},
url = {https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-4357/aeb000},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - A New Framework for Modeling Solar Flares from Magnetohydrodynamic to Kinetic Processes
AU - Joel C. Allred
AU - Graham S. Kerr
AU - Silvina E. Guidoni
AU - Joel T. Dahlin
AU - Marc Swisdak
AU - Judith T. Karpen
AU - Valeriy Tenishev
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/30
JO - The Astrophysical Journal
DO - 10.3847/1538-4357/aeb000
UR - https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-4357/aeb000
AB - Physical processes in solar flares span many orders of magnitude in spatiotemporal scales, so a single unified model accounting for all relevant processes remains computationally intractable. Instead, specialized codes have been developed, targeting specific domains that tackle specific aspects of the solar flare problem. Here, we present a comprehensive framework that links three models to capture flare initiation and energy release, the subsequent particle acceleration, the propagation and thermalization of those particles, and ultimately the heating of the lower solar atmosphere. We use the 2.5D ARMS magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) code to model stressing of the magnetic field in a simulated active region, the formation of a current sheet, magnetic reconnection, and the evolution of newly formed flare loops. We use the conditions in the ARMS current sheet to initialize the kglobal model, which predicts time-dependent nonthermal electron and proton distributions. Finally, we use RADYN+FP to inject these distributions into a newly reconnected ARMS loop and compute subsequent particle transport, atmospheric heating, and radiative emissions. This is the first detailed presentation of a RADYN+FP simulation tracking nonthermal electrons and protons in the same loop. As well as discussing the interesting physics that takes place, we note how this results in white-light flare emission height consistent with observations. This work is a first step toward building a fully 3D flare modeling framework.
SN - 1538-4357
SN - 0004-637X
ER -