Determination of Electron Density and Filling Factor for Soft X-Ray Flare Kernels

In the standard method of electron density determination for soft X-ray (SXR) flare kernels, it is necessary to assume what the extent is of a kernel along the line of sight. This is a source of significant uncertainty of the obtained densities.     

The Energy of High-Frequency Waves in the Low Solar Chromosphere

High-frequency acoustic waves have been suggested as a source of mechanical heating in the chromosphere. In this work the radial component of waves in the frequency interval 22 to 1 mHz are investigated. Observations were performed using 2D spectroscopy in the spectral lines of Fe i 543.45 nm and Fe i 543.29 nm at the Vacuum Tower Telescope, Tenerife, Spain. Speckle reconstruction has been applied to the observations. We have used Fourier and wavelet techniques to identify oscillatory power. The energy flux is estimated by assuming that all observed oscillations are acoustic running waves. We find that the estimated energy flux is not sufficient to cover the chromospheric radiative losses.     

On the Lower Energy Cutoff of Nonthermal Electrons in Solar Flares

1 INTRODUCTIONThe lower energy cutoff of nonthermal electron beams is an important quantity. Not only isit related to the acceleration mechanism, but it also determines the total number of acceleratedelectrons and the energy they carry. The power-law of electron beams cannot extend to lowerenergies indefinitely for if it did, it would imply an indeflnite1y large nuInber of electrons.A lower energy cutoff (E.), therefore, must exist, to keep the number of electrons within areasonable rang…     

Millimeter and X-Ray Emission from the 5 July 2012 Solar Flare

The 5 July 2012 solar flare SOL2012-07-05T11:44 (11:39?–?11:49 UT) with an increasing millimeter spectrum between 93 and 140 GHz is considered. We use space and ground-based observations in X-ray, extreme ultraviolet, microwave, and millimeter wave ranges obtained with the Reuven Ramaty High-Energy Solar Spectroscopic Imager, Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO), Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite, Radio Solar Telescope Network, and Bauman Moscow State Technical University millimeter radio telescope RT-7.5. The main parameters of thermal and accelerated electrons were determined through X-ray spectral fitting assuming the homogeneous thermal source and thick-target model. From the data of the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly/SDO and differential-emission-measure calculations it is shown that the thermal coronal plasma gives a negligible contribution to the millimeter flare emission. Model calculations suggest that the observed increase of millimeter spectral flux with frequency is determined by gyrosynchrotron emission of high-energy (\(\gtrsim 300\) keV) electrons in the chromosphere. The consequences of the results are discussed in the light of the flare-energy-release mechanisms.     

Imaging Observations of Quasi-Periodic Pulsatory Nonthermal Emission in Two-Ribbon Solar Flares

Using RHESSI and some auxiliary observations we examine possible connections between the spatial and temporal structure of nonthermal hard X-ray (HXR) emission sources from the two-ribbon flares of 29 May 2003 and 19 January 2005. In each of these events quasi-periodic pulsations (QPP) with time period of 1 – 3 minutes are evident in both hard X rays and microwaves. The sources of nonthermal HXR emission are situated mainly at the footpoints of the flare arcade loops observed by TRACE and the SOHO/EIT instrument in the EUV range. At least one of the sources moves systematically during and after the QPP phase in each flare. The sources move predominantly parallel to the magnetic inversion line during the 29 May flare and along flare ribbons during the QPP phase of both flares. By contrast, the sources start to show movement perpendicular to the flare ribbons with velocity comparable to that along the ribbons’ movement after the QPP phase. The sources of each pulse are localized in distinct parts of the ribbon during the QPP phase. The measured velocity of the sources and the estimated energy release rate do not correlate well with the flux of the HXR emission calculated from these sources. The sources of microwaves and thermal HXRs are situated near the apex of the flare loop arcade and are not stationary either. Almost all of the QPP as well as some pulses of nonthermal HXR emission during the post-QPP phase reveal soft – hard – soft spectral behavior, indicating separate acts of electron acceleration and injection. In our opinion at least two different flare scenarios based on the Nakariakov et al. (2006, Astron. Astrophys. 452, 343) model and on the idea of current-carrying loop coalescence are suitable for interpreting the observations. However, it is currently not possible to choose between them owing to observational limitations.     

Hard x-ray and Microwave Flux Spectra of the 2 November 1991 Solar Flare

We analysed the hard X-ray and microwave flux spectra of the solar flare (BATSE No. 1791) on 2 November 1991, which started at 16:11:03 UT and ended at 16:56:10 UT. This flare is particularly interesting because of its deep cyclic intensity modulation. Data are available simultaneously from the 16-channel BATSE/LAD hard X-ray and 45-frequency OVRO microwave database. We quantitatively compare the time variations in profiles of the hard X-ray spectral photon index, the 50 keV X-ray flux, and microwave spectral indices (at both high and low frequency ends). As expected, the X-ray photon spectral index decreases as the hard X-ray flux increases. This pattern appears in all the sub-peaks. This is consistent with previous observations that hard X-ray emission hardens at the emission peak. However, the behaviour of the high-frequency microwave index is unexpected. We observe an anti-correlation between the high-frequency microwave index and the hard X-ray photon index during the course of the flare. Finally, we study the arrival time of microwave flux peaks as a function of frequency and find that the microwave peak at a higher frequency comes earlier than that at a lower frequency. A maximum delay of 72 s is found among the main peaks at different frequencies. Shorter delays are found for the other five sub-peaks.     

High-Energy Emission from a Solar Flare in Hard X-rays and Microwaves

We investigate accelerated electron energy spectra for different sources in a large flare using simultaneous observations obtained with two instruments, the Nobeyama Radio Heliograph (NoRH) at 17 and 34 GHz, and the Reuven Ramaty High Energy Solar Spectroscopic Imager (RHESSI) at hard X-rays. This flare is one of the few in which emission up to energies exceeding 200 keV can be imaged in hard X-rays. Furthermore, we can investigate the spectra of individual sources up to this energy. We discuss and compare the HXR and microwave spectra and morphology. Although the event overall appears to correspond to the standard scenario with magnetic reconnection under an eruptive filament, several of its features do not seem to be consistent with popular flare models. In particular we find that (1) microwave emissions might be optically thick at high frequencies despite a low peak frequency in the total flux radio spectrum, presumably due to the inhomogeneity of the emitting source; (2) magnetic fields in high-frequency radio sources might be stronger than sometimes assumed; (3) sources spread over a very large volume can show matching evolution in their hard X-ray spectra that may provide a challenge to acceleration models. Our results emphasize the importance of studies of sunspot-associated flares and total flux measurements of radio bursts in the millimeter range.     

Deep Convection and the Solar Chromosphere

The manifestation of convection in deep layers of the Sun has been found in the dynamics of solar surface activity (Arkhypov, Antonov, and Khodachenko in Solar Phys. 270, 1, 2011). Some chromospheric phenomena could be connected with deep convection, too. We justify this hypothesis with sunspot, Ca ii, Hα, and millimeter-wave radio data. It is argued that large-scale (20 to 25 deg) bright regions in the chromosphere, surrounded by dark halos with diameters of 40° to 50°, can be manifestations of giant convection cells. The ascending and descending flows in such cells modulate the emergence of magnetic tubes generating the high-temperature regions and low-temperature halo in the chromosphere. Our estimates of the rotation rate of such features confirm their association with deep (≳ 35 Mm) layers of the solar convection zone.     

Soft x-ray emitting regions in the solar corona

The soft X-ray emission of the solar corona is investigated by comparison of the signals of several broad band photometers carried on the Solrad 9 satellite, and sensitive to the region 0.5–20 Å. Temperature from 1.5 × 10⁶ to 25 × 10⁶ K have been measured with emission measure N _e ² dV ranging between 10⁵⁰ cm^–3 to 10⁴⁷ cm^–3.By means of the observational data and assuming magnetic confinement and hydrostatic equilibrium, the model of an active region is investigated. For temperatures larger than 10⁷K the emission is due to flare activity and two sets of emission measure are observed which appear to be related to the evolution of flares.     

Long- and Mid-Term Variations of the Soft X-ray Flare Type in Solar Cycles

Using data from the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites (GOES) spacecraft in the 1?–?8 Å wavelength range for Solar Cycles 23, 24, and part of Cycles 21 and 22, we compare mean temporal parameters (rise and decay times, and duration) and the proportion of impulsive short-duration events (SDE) and gradual long-duration events (LDE) among C- and ≥?M1.0-class flares. It is found that the fraction of the SDE ≥?M1.0-class flares (including spikes) in Cycle 24 exceeds that in Cycle 23 in all three temporal parameters at the maximum phase and in the decay time during the ascending cycle phase. However, Cycles 23 and 24 barely differ in the fraction of the SDE C-class flares. The temporal parameters of SDEs, their fraction, and consequently the relationship between the SDE and LDE flares do not remain constant, but reveal regular changes within individual cycles and during the transition from one cycle to another. In all phases of all four cycles, these changes have the character of pronounced, large-amplitude “quasi-biennial” oscillations (QBOs). In different cycles and at the separate phases of individual cycles, such QBOs are superimposed on various systematic trends displayed by the analyzed temporal flare parameters. In Cycle 24, the fraction of the SDE ≥?M1.0-class flares from the N- and S-hemispheres displays the most pronounced synchronous QBOs. The QBO amplitude and general variability of the intense ≥?M1.0-class flares almost always markedly exceeds those of the moderate C-class flares. The ordered quantitative and qualitative variations of the flare type revealed in the course of the solar cycles are discussed within the framework of the concept that the SDE flares are associated mainly with small sunspots (including those in developed active regions) and that small and large sunspots behave differently during cycles and form two distinct populations.     

Quasi-Periodic Energy Release in a Three-Ribbon Solar Flare

Solar Physics - Quiescent filaments are usually affected by internal and/or external perturbations triggering oscillations of different kinds. In particular, external large-scale coronal waves can...     

Quasi-periodic Variations in the Hard X-ray Emission of a Large Arcade Flare

We investigated the quasi-periodic oscillations of the hard X-ray (HXR) emission of the large flare of 2 November 1991 using HXR light curves and soft X-ray and HXR images recorded with the Yohkoh X-ray telescopes. We analysed these observations and report five main results: i) The observations confirm that electrons are accelerated in oscillating magnetic traps that are contained within the cusp magnetic structure. ii) The chromospheric upflow increases the density within the magnetic traps, which in turn together with the higher amplitude of the trap oscillations increases the amplitude of the HXR pulses. iii) This increase stops when the density inside the traps increases progressively and inhibits the acceleration of electrons. iv) The model of oscillating magnetic traps is able to explain the time variation of the electron precipitation, the strong asymmetry in the precipitation of the accelerated electrons, and the systematic differences in the precipitation of 15 and 25 keV electrons. v) We have obtained direct observational evidence that strong HXR pulses are the result of the inflow into the accelerated volume of dense plasma from chromospheric evaporation.     

Microwave Millisecond Spike Emission in the Solar Flare of 1991 May 16

Properties, including the time duration, polarization, quasi-periodical oscillations and so on, of the microwave spike emissions observed at 2.5 GHz and 2.6 GHz during the solar flare of 1991 May 16 are analyzed statistically. The left-handed and right-handed circular polarizations of the spike emissions at 2.5, 2.6 and 3.1 GHz are reported in detail. At these 3 frequencies, most of the spikes are superposed on both the rising (and maximum) and the descending phase of the burst. It is noteworthy that spikes also appeared superposed on the small bursts that appeared after the main burst. The spike emission lasted 17 minutes. Polarization reversals on different timescales appearing in the spike emissions at 2.5 and 2.6 GHZ are described. Our statistical analysis indicates that the polarization reversals at 2.5 and 2.6 GHz differ in characters on average, the polarization reversal at 2.5 GHz is earlier than that of 2.6 GHz by about 1.5 minutes, and polarization reversal of the spike emission is more frequent at 2.5 GHZ.     

On the Microwave Spike Emission of the September 6, 1992 Flare

The main aim of this paper is to estimate, from multispectral observations, the plasma parameters in a microwave burst source which was also the site of spike emission. This information is essential for the determination of the spike emission process. By analyzing one-dimensional source distributions observed with the SSRT at 5.7 GHz and correlating them with Yohkoh X-ray and Nobeyama 17 GHz images, we have concluded that the microwave emitting region was larger than the soft X-ray loop-top source, and that the origin of the burst could be explained by gyrosynchrotron emission of non-thermal electrons in a magnetic field of approximately 100 G. It has been shown that the source of 5.7 GHz spikes observed during the burst was located close to an SXR-emitting loop with high density and temperature and a relatively low magnetic field. Thus, plasma emission is the most favourable radiation mechanism for the generation of the sub-arc-second microwave pulses.     

RHESSI耀斑中非热电子低能截止的研究

太阳耀斑中硬X射线(HXR)光子谱的低能变平过去一般认为是由于耀斑中非热电子的低能截止造成的,但现在也有作者认为耀斑光子与下层大气的逆康普顿散射(albedo效应)或者其他作用也能够使得HXR光子谱出现低能变平的情形.采用Gan etal.(2001,2002)中提出的求非热电子低能截止的方法,统计分析了Ramaty High EnergySolar Spectroscopy Imager(RHESSI)卫星在2002--2005年间观测的100个耀斑,发现经albedo校正,有18个耀斑的HXR光子谱可以利用单幂律谱来拟合,在80个可以用双幂律谱来拟合HXR光子谱的耀斑中,有21个耀斑可以直接用单幂律电子谱加一个低能截止来解释.低能截止范围为20-50keV,平均值约为30keV.同时也分析了耀斑光子谱特征的其他可能解释.     

Hard x-ray and Metric/Decimetric Radio Observations of the 20 February 2002 Solar Flare

The GOES C7.5 flare on 20 February 2002 at 11:07 UT is one of the first solar flares observed by RHESSI at X-ray wavelengths. It was simultaneously observed at metric/decimetric wavelengths by the Nançay radioheliograph (NRH) which provided images of the flare between 450 and 150 MHz. We present a first comparison of the hard X-ray images observed with RHESSI and of the radio emission sites observed by the NRH. This first analysis shows that: (1) there is a close occurrence between the production of the HXR-radiating most energetic electrons and the injection of radio-emitting non-thermal electrons at all heights in the corona, (2) modifications with time in the pattern of the HXR sources above 25 keV and of the decimetric radio sources at 410 MHz are observed occurring on similar time periods, (3) in the late phase of the most energetic HXR peak, a weak radio source is observed at high frequencies, overlying the EUV magnetic loops seen in the vicinity of the X-ray flaring sites above 12 keV. These preliminary results illustrate the potential of combining RHESSI and NRH images for the study of electron acceleration and transport in flares.     

Active-Region Magnetic Structure Observed in the Photosphere and Chromosphere

The full magnetic vector has been measured in both the photosphere and chromosphere across sunspots and plage in NOAA Active Region 8299. We investigate the vertical magnetic structure above the umbral, penumbral and plage regions using quantitative statistical comparisons of the photospheric and chromospheric magnetic data. The results include: (1) a general decrease in average magnetic flux density with height; (2) the direct detection of the superpenumbral canopy in the chromosphere; (3) values for dB/dz which are consistent with earlier investigations when derived from a straight difference between the two measurements, but which are somewhat small when derived from the B=0 condition, (4) a monolithic structure in the umbrae which extends well into the upper chromosphere, with a very complex and varied structure in penumbrae and plage, as evidenced by (5) a uniform magnetic scale height in the umbrae with an abrupt jump to widely varying scale heights in penumbral and plage regions. Further, we find (6) evidence that field extrapolations using the photospheric flux as the boundary may not agree with expectations or with observed coronal structures as well as those which use the chromospheric magnetic flux as the extrapolation starting point.     

On the Evolution of the Lower Energy Cutoff of Nonthermal Electrons in Solar Flares

1 INTRODUCTION Gan, Li and Chang (2001a) proposed a quantitative method to obtain the lower energycutoff (Er) of power-law electrons from the observed broken-down double power-law hard Xray spectrum. Most recently Can et al. (2002) improved the method and let it be moreself-consistent. They applied their improved method to the 54 hard X-ray events observed withBATSE/CGRO and acquired more general results in comparison with those obtained by Canet al. (2001b). Despite the data is rel…