Fredagskollokvium: Eduard Kontar: Solar flares and recent X-ray observations

During periods of sporadic flare activity, the Sun releases energy stored in the magnetic field into the plasma of the solar atmosphere. This is an extremely efficient process, with a large fraction of the magnetic energy going into plasma particles. The solar flares are accompanied by prompt electromagnetic emission virtually over the entire electromagnetic spectrum from gamma-rays down to radio frequencies. The Sun, through its activity, also plays a driving role in the Sun-Earth system that substantially influences geophysical space. Solar flare energetic particles from the Sun are detected in interplanetary space by in-situ measurements making them a vital component of the single Sun-Earth system. Although a qualitative picture is generally agreed upon, many solar flare processes are poorly understood. Specifically, the processes of acceleration and propagation of energetic particles interacting on various physical scales remain major challenges in solar physics and basic plasma physics. In the talk, I will review the current understanding of solar flare physics focusing on recent observational progress toward the understanding of energy release and particle acceleration in solar flares, which became possible due to the numerous spacecraft and ground-based observations.