Undergraduate Research Accomplishments Accomplishments: Physics Major Enters Univ of Chicago PhD & Publishes in 'Astrophysical Journal'

Logan Cabral, a member of UMass Dartmouth's inaugural Physics BS/MS cohort, earned his undergraduate degree in Physics, and this May, he will graduate with a master's degree as a part of the first group of graduates from UMassD's accelerated Physics BS/MS program. As a transfer student from Bristol Community College, Logan took full advantage of every opportunity to collaborate with faculty members and enhance his research skills during his undergraduate studies. In his final year at UMassD, Logan pursued top-notch research opportunities and secured admission to a PhD program at the University of Chicago. Logan is the author of an important article titled, "The Location and Angle Distribution of Magnetic Reconnection in the Solar Corona." The article which was published in the November 2022 issue of the prominent Astrophysical Journal explores unresolved issues in solar physics. The abstract reads:  "A major unresolved issue in solar physics is the nature of the reconnection events that may give rise to the extreme temperatures measured in the solar corona. In the nanoflare heating paradigm of coronal heating, localized reconnection converts magnetic energy into thermal energy, producing multithermal plasma in the corona. The properties of the corona produced by magnetic reconnection, however, depend on the details of the reconnection process. A significant challenge in understanding the details of reconnection in magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) models is that these models are frequently only able to tell us that reconnection has occurred, but there is significant difficulty in identifying precisely where and when it occurred. In order to properly understand the consequences of reconnection in MHD models, it is crucial to identify reconnecting field lines and where along the field lines reconnection occurs. In this work, we analyze a fully 3D MHD simulation of a realistic sunspot topology, driven by photospheric motions, and we present a model for identifying reconnecting field lines. We also present a proof-of-concept model for identifying the location of reconnection along the reconnecting field lines, and use that to measure the angle at which reconnection occurs in the simulation. We find evidence that magnetic reconnection occurs preferentially near field line footpoints, and discuss the implications of this for coronal heating models." The full article can be accessed HERE