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Spiro Antiochos Maniac Lecture

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Dr. Antiochos is an internationally recognized authority on solar physics and plasma physics. His research is distinguished by the development of innovative models to explain major observational problems. His work relies heavily on magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) theory and state-of-the-art numerical simulation. Dr. Antiochos has made many fundamental advances to our understanding of the Sun and Heliosphere. Among his best-known contributions are the following: He performed the original analytic and numerical calculations of chromospheric evaporation - the response of the Sun's lower atmosphere to heating in the solar corona. He proposed the cool loop model for the transition region that links the upper and lower levels of the solar atmosphere. He is one of the founders of coronal loop theory, and his ideas on coronal plasma structure and dynamics are in widespread use today. Dr. Antiochos developed the thermal nonequilibrium model for the formation of coronal condensations. It is widely believed to be the definitive explanation for how cool filaments/prominences form in the hot corona, and is the basis for most of the current studies on coronal condensation formation. Dr. Antiochos proposed the 3D sheared arcade model for prominence magnetic fields, and verified with some of the first 3D MHD simulations of solar plasma that it produces a magnetic topology capable of supporting prominence material. The model is the basis for much of the present research on prominence structure and eruption. In another seminal contribution, Dr. Antiochos demonstrated how magnetic reconnection in a multi-polar topology can produce the explosive energy release required to explain coronal mass ejections and eruptive flares. His "breakout" model has spawned great theoretical and observational interest, and is being used throughout the world for the interpretation of coronal eruption observations. It also has major potential for application to space weather predictions. In recent work Dr. Antiochos has derived several far-reaching theorems on the topology of the Sun's open magnetic field regions, and has shown how magnetic reconnection determines the dynamical interaction of open and closed field. This work is critical for understanding how the Sun's atmosphere and magnetic couples to the heliosphere.