Authors: Matthias Rempel (HAO/NSF NCAR)

In this scene setting talk I will provide an overview of recent 3D flare models. I will focus specifically on two classes of models: (1) Data-inspired radiation MHD models of solar flares that cover the height range from upper convection zone into the lower solar corona and (2) Data-driven simulations that model the corona in response to a time evolving data-constraint lower boundary. Models of type (1) do not aim at modeling specific solar active regions, but instead mimic processes observed on the Sun. These models are full 3D active region models that start with the pre-flare evolution, including flux emergence and collisional shearing, which build up the coronal energy through resolved photospheric magneto-convection processes. They model the formation of a pre-flare magnetic flux rope, destabilization process and the resulting flare/CME. While these models compromise on critical details during the flare (under-resolved reconnection, no accounting for non-thermal particles), they nonetheless capture many aspects of observed flare dynamics. In contrast to this, models of type (2) aim at modeling observed active regions and focus on specific flares. While the photosphere is replaced by a data-driven boundary condition, all the physics of the solar corona are retained. These models provide insights into the specific magnetic topology and can often reproduce specific dynamics of observed flares, although somewhat dependent on the specifics of the data-driven boundary condition.