Solar Sources of Flares and CMEs

Abstract

Strong solar flares and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) are prone to originate within and near active regions (ARs) with a high magnetic complexity. Therefore, to better understand the generation mechanism of flares and the resultant CME eruption and to gain insight into their stellar counterparts, it is crucial to reveal how solar flare-productive ARs are generated and developed. In this review, first, we summarize some general aspects of solar flares and key observational characteristics of such ARs. Then, we discuss a series of flux emergence simulations that were performed to elucidate the subsurface origins of their complexity and introduce state-of-the-art models that consider the effect of turbulent thermal convection. Future flare observations using SOLAR-C, a next-generation high-throughput extreme ultraviolet spectroscopy mission, are also discussed.