SPSC W308 (East Campus), Duane D113
In August 2016, I joined the National Solar Observatory and the Department of Astrophysical and Planetary Sciences as Assistant Professor. My research interests are solar and stellar astrophysics with a specialization in spectroscopy of optical and ultraviolet emission in stellar flares. I use state-of-the-art modeling codes combined with analysis of data from ground and space-based observatories (such as Hubble, IRIS, and the APO ARC 3.5m) to understand how the lower, dense stellar atmosphere (chromosphere and photosphere) is heated in response to the sudden release of magnetic energy during flares. I am also interested in developing new media for the dissemination of scientific results to the public and in establishing collaborations across disciplines.
Publications:
Kowalski, A. F., Allred, J. C., Daw, A. N., Cauzzi, G., Carlsson, M. 2016, “The Atmospheric Response to High Nonthermal Electron Beam Fluxes in Solar Flares I: Modeling the Brightest NUV Footpoints in the X1 Solar Flare of 2014 March 29”, accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal; http://arxiv.org/abs/1609.07390
Kowalski, A.F., Mathioudakis, M., Hawley, S. L., Wisniewski, J. P., Dhillon, V. , Marsh, T. R., Hilton, E. J., Brown, B. P. 2016, “M Dwarf Flare Continuum Variations on One-Second Timescales: Calibrating and Modeling of ULTRACAM Flare Color Indices” The Astrophysical Journal, ApJ 820, 95, DOI: 10.3847/0004-637X/820/2/95
Osten, R. A., Kowalski, A. F., Drake, S., Krimm, H., Page, K., Gazeas, K., Kennea, J., Oates, S., Page, M., de Miguel, E., Novak, R., Apeltauer, T., Gehrels, N., 2016, “A Very Bright, Very Hot, and Very Long Flaring Event from the M Dwarf Binary System DG CVn”, Astrophysical Journal in press, arxiv:1609.04674