Brightenings AnD Polarity Inversion Tracking (BADPIT) method for studying solar active region evolution before major solar flares

This study investigates the relationship between extreme ultraviolet (EUV) transient brightenings (TBs) and the onset of GOES X-class solar flares in active regions (ARs). We introduce the Brightenings AnD Polarity Inversion Tracking (BADPIT) method that can detect TBs across multiple SDO/AIA channels. To identify TBs, we impose two independent thresholds: a 3-σ intensity-based criterion and a power law divergence approach. We demonstrate the application of BADPIT through a flaring and a non-flaring AR for 24 hours as a pathfinder to a comprehensive statistical study for a complete performance verification: the studied ARs are the non-flaring AR 13186 and the flaring AR 11429, both sharing a similar Hale sunspot classification. Preliminary results are encouraging: significantly more TBs are detected in the flaring AR, with up to five times more 3-σ thresholded TBs identified, while power law thresholded events were frequent only in the flaring AR and mostly absent in the non-flaring AR. In the two ARs that we studied both the power law threshold method and the 3-σ method show a potential to act as diagnostic tools for distinguishing between imminent flaring and non-flaring conditions several hours before the onset of major solar flares. However, our work is a proof-of-concept study, given the limited number of ARs we studied; its reliability as a forecasting tool will be investigated in a follow-up study in which a large sample of ARs will be analysed.