9722489 Kundu This award provides funds to support a three-month research visit by Dr. Mukul R. Kundu, Department of Astronomy, University of Maryland at College Park, for collaboration with Dr. Takashi Sakurai, Narikura Solar Observatory, National Astronomical Observatory, Mitaka, Japan. Their research is concerned with studies of the sun's corona and solar flares using simultaneously obtained X-ray and radio data from the Japanese Space mission Yohkoh and ground based radio telescopes, especially, the Nobeyama Radioheliograph in Japan. Three specific projects included in this research, covering a broad range of coronal phenomena are (1) a study of radio emission associated with coronal X-ray jets discovered by SXT (soft-X-ray brightenings which originate in the low corona and then propagate through the corona along magnetic loops), using both low-frequency and highfrequency radio data; and (2) a study of the evolution of active regions in terms of flare productivity; and (3) a survey of the Xray emission above sunspot umbrae, in order to determine the nature of the corona directly above sunspots; this will be combined with radio data on the magnetic fields above the same spots. Dr. Kundu has made pioneering contributions to the knowledge of the sun's corona using combined radio and X-ray imaging data. Dr.Sakurai will bring his theoretical expertise to the problem of studying solar active regions and flares from the point of view of magnetic energy storage and trigger mechanisms. Their complementary expertise is expected be an asset to their collaborative studies. The project will provide to the U.S. scientist access to unique resources, not available elsewhere in the world, for study of the sun's coronal activities. This project is supported under the Science Fellowship Program between the National Science Foundation and the Japan Foundation Center for Global Partnership. ***
