Wei Liu

I am a NASA Postdoctoral Program (NPP, previously as NRC) Fellow at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. I joined the RHESSI team in 2007, working with Drs. Brian Dennis and Gordon Holman. I graduated from Stanford University with a PhD on particle acceleration in solar flares advised by Professor Vahé Petrosian. I previously worked as a research assistant at the Stanford Solar Physics Group led by Professor Philip Scherrer.

Check out my new book (Publisher: VDM Verlag Dr. Müller, July 2008, ISBN: 978-3-8364-7432-0, 252 pages, 10 chapters): "Solar Flares as Natural Particle Accelerators &mdash A High-energy View from X-ray Observations and Theoretical Models"

Links to: ADS, Barnes & Noble, Amazon.

Research | Publications | CV | Links | Contact Me

Research :

My scholastic background is broad and encompasses various areas that fall under the heading of solar physics. My observational work covered a broad wavelength range from visible light to hard X-rays, while my numerical and theoretical work involved both fluid and kinetic descriptions of plasma. My master's thesis focused on the eruption mechanisms of solar prominences using MHD simulations. My early doctoral research included analyzing MDI magnetic field data using wavelet techniques and studying CMEs with phenomenological and MHD models. A growing interest in the physics of particle acceleration led to my dissertation work on solar flares, concentrating on analysis and interpretation of hard X-ray data as well as theoretical modeling with the combined Fokker-Planck and hydrodynamic code. My postdoctoral work in the RHESSI group at Goddard improved and extended my graduate study in solar flares. A list of projects I worked on is as follows.

Particle accelerations in solar flares - RHESSI data analysis and modeling:
(1) A statistical study of hard X-ray imaging spectroscopy of limb flare loop top and foot point sources, in an effort to put constraints on our particle acceleratoin models. See my 2003 AAS/SPD Poster ( HTML, PDF).
(2) RHESSI Observations of a Simple Large X-ray Flare on 11-03-2003 (ApJ, 611, L53-L56, August 10, 2004, ADS, PDF)
(3) Evidence of chromospheric evaporation revealed by RHESSI (ApJ, 649, No. 1, Oct, 2006, ADS, PDF)
(4) Double Coronal X-ray Source and Magnetic Reconnection Site (ApJ, Vol. 676, p. 704-716; March 20, 2008, ADS, PDF).
See the related RHESSI Science Nugget , and my 2007 Fall AGU poster, PPT, PDF.
(5) Conjugate Hard X-ray Footpoints in the 2003 October 29 X10 Flare: Unshearing Motions, Correlations, and Asymmetries
(submitted to ApJ May 05, 2008, ADS, PDF ).
Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) modeling:
(1) A numerical MHD study on the relationship between magnetic topologies and two-class CMEs: (ADS, astro-ph/0511023)
(2) A cone model for CME velocity determination: Zhao, Plunkett, & Liu, 2002 (JGR, 107, 1223); 2001 COSPAR poster (PDF)
Data analysis of SOHO/MDI magnetograms:
(1) 2001 Spring AGU Poster.
(2) Link to Solar mean magnetic field variability: A wavelet approach to Wilcox Solar Observatory and SOHO/Michelson Doppler Imager observations, Boberg et al., JGR, 2002.

Links :

RHESSI Data & Software Center | Max Millennium Program | RHESSI Software FAQ | IDL-fonts.PDF

Solar MURI at UC Berkeley | Solar Physics at Stanford | Space Sciences Lab at UC Berkeley | Google

Contact Me :

Work Phone: +1-301-286-1843
Fax: 301-286-1617
Mail: weiliu (a) helio gsfc nasa gov
Homepage: http://hesperia.gsfc.nasa.gov/~weiliu/
Address:
Solar Physics Laboratory (Code 671)
Heliophysics Science Division
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
8800 Greenbelt Road
Greenbelt, MD 20771
USA

(Last modified: August 4, 2008)