Abstract

In part one of this talk, we show how extreme UV images of the solar corona taken by NASA ’s Solar Dynamics Observatory can be used to quantify the thermal structure and evolution of magnetically active regions on the Sun. The thermal structures inferred from extreme UV observations are consistent with their soft X-ray counterparts. Lessons learned from such studies guide the development of models of solar flares and eruptions. In the second part of this talk, we present radiative MHD simulations of flares and eruptions with sufficient realism for the synthesis of remote sensing measurements at visible, UV and X-ray wavelengths. These models allow us to explain a number of well-known observational features, including the time profile of the X-ray flux, chromospheric evaporation and condensation, the sweeping of flare ribbons in the lower atmosphere, global coronal waves, and the non-thermal spectral shape of coronal X-ray sources. Implications for how we interpret X-ray spectra from other astrophysical sources will be discussed.