Homology of solar flare-associated radio events

The concept of homology, introduced by Ellison, Mc Kenna, and Rceid (1960) for optical flares, can be extended to flare-associated radio events. Successive flares within the same centre of activity sometimes produce radio events that are remarkably similar. The similarity amounts to the fact that they extend over about the same range(s) in frequency, producing at each frequency responses of comparable intensity and duration. On some occasions the intensity curves at individual frequencies show even detailed resemblance. The occurrence of homologous radio events is commonly restricted to periods of less than 48 hours.Without being homologous, radio events that occur in the same centre of activity may present a common characteristic that is typical for that centre. Two such characteristics are (1) the production of radio responses at centimetric, decimetric and metric frequencies, and (2) the impulsiveness of microwave outbursts. The distribution of time intervals during which such bursts occur is compared with the same distribution for homologous events (Figure 3).     

Spectral radio observations of a solar eclipse

Measurements were made of the 7 March, 1970 solar eclipse by the AFCRL Sagamore Hill Radio Observatory in Hamilton, Massachusetts, on the wavelengths of 0.86, 1.95, 3.4, 6.0, 11.1, 21.2, 49.5, and 122.5 cm. Near-total obscuration (m=0.96) occurred at eclipse maximum. Source flux spectra for the intense sources located in McMath plages 10 618(SE), 10617(NE), and 10 607(NW) show gyro-resonance spectral peaking, whereas the less intense bremsstrahlung emission is observed for the weaker sources in plages 10 614 and 10 619. Associated one-dimensional source sizes for these regions vary from 0.8 arc min (at 3.4 cm) to 5.4 arc min (at 49.5 cm); with sizes at a particular wavelength increasing with intensity of the source. An estimated flux spectrum of the undisturbed radio Sun for 7 March, 1970 is given and compared to the spectrum for the solar minimum of 1964. In plage 10 607 a weak halo emission was isolated from the intense emission from the central source over the spot. The measure of emission from the halo above plage 10 607 was calculated to be 7 × 10²⁷ electron²/cm⁵.     

Velocities of type II solar radio events

Radial velocities for 144 simple but representative type II bursts were determined from measured frequency time histories. The velocity distribution is peaked in the region between 500 and 700 km s ^–1 (with the exact value dependent upon the coronal density model assumed) and skewed towards the larger velocities. In 85 % of the cases it was found that the velocities were constant with height. In the remaining 15 % the drift rate decreased drastically at low frequencies. This tended to occur for events having high initial velocities. The measured velocity is dependent upon the properties of the flare event but does not appear to be related to other characteristics of the radio burst. Comparisons show that the group of type II events studied had a velocity distribution which was comparable with that for coronal mass ejection events seen in association with type II bursts. The measured velocities were however statistically smaller than those of interplanetary type II bursts.     

Spectral characteristics of solar S bursts

Observations of the solar radio spectrum have been made with high time and frequency resolution. Spectra were recorded over six 3-MHz bands between 30 and 82 MHz. The receivers used were capable of time and frequency resolutions of 1 ms and 2 kHz, respectively. A large number of radio bursts exhibiting a variety of find spectral structure were recorded.The bursts, referred to here as S bursts, were observed throughout the 30–82 MHz frequency range but were most numerous in the 33–44 MHz band and were very rare at 80 MHz. On a dynamic spectrum the bursts appeared as narrow sloping lines with the centre frequency of each burst decreasing with time. The rate of frequency drift was about 1/3 that of type III bursts. Most bursts were observed over only a limited frequency range (< 5 MHz) but some drifted for more than 10 MHz. The durations measured at a single frequency and the instantaneous bandwidths of S bursts were small; t = 49 ± 34 ms and f = 123 ± 56 kHz for bursts observed near 40 MHz. A significant number had t 20 ms. Flux densities of S burst sources were estimated to fall in the range 10²³-5 × 10²¹ Wm^–1 Hz^–1.A small proportion (1–2%) of bursts showed a fine structure in which the burst source apparently only emitted at discrete, regularly spaced frequencies causing the spectrogram to exhibit a series of bands or fringes. The fringe spacing increased with wave frequency and was f - 90 kHz for fringes near 40 MHz. The bandwidths of fringes was narrow, often less than 30 kHz and in some cases down to 10–15 kHz.New address: Astronomy Program, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, U.S.A.     

Spectral features of burst radio emission over the solar cycle

We have investigated common burst spectral features for the 20th cycle of solar activity. The maximum daily radio fluxes in 8 frequency ranges are analysed. For every year the classification of these daily spectra is obtained by cluster analysis methods. There are two spectral minima for average spectra of clusters (in frequency ranges 4–3 and 0.5–0.25 GHz). As a rule their positions do not change during the solar cycle.Every annual spectrum of weak bursts has three minima (in frequency ranges 4–3, 2–1, and 0.5–0.25 GHz). The positions of these minima remain invariable during the solar cycle. But anuual spectra of strong bursts depend essentially on the phase of solar activity.The basic features of most burst spectra can be explained by gyrosynchrotron radiation of thermal and nonthermal electrons and plasma radiation at the plasma frequency and its second harmonic.     

The high-frequency characteristics of solar radio bursts

We compare the millimeter, microwave, and soft X-ray emission from a number of solar flares in order to determine the properties of the high-frequency radio emission of flares. The millimeter observations use a sensitive interferometer at 86 GHz which offers much better sensitivity and spatial resolution than most previous high-frequency observations. We find a number of important results for these flares: (i) the 86 GHz emission onset appears often to be delayed with respect to the microwave onset; (ii) even in large flares the millimeter-wavelength emission can arise in sources of only a few arc sec dimension; (iii) the millimeter emission in the impulsive phase does not correlate with the soft X-ray emission, and thus is unlikely to contain any significant thermal bremsstrahlung component; and (iv) the electron energy distributions implied by the millimeter observations are much flatter (spectral indices of 2.5 to 3.6) than is usual for microwave or hard X-ray observations.     

Type II solar radio events observed in the interplanetary medium

Fifteen type II solar radio events have been identified in the 2 MHz to 30 kHz frequency range by the radio astronomy experiment on the ISEE-3 satellite over the period from September 1978 to December 1979. These data provide the most comprehensive sample of type II radio bursts hitherto observed at kilometer wavelengths. Dynamic spectra of a number of events are presented. Where possible, the 15 events have been associated with an initiating flare, ground-based radio data, the passage of a shock at the spacecraft and the sudden commencement of a geomagnetic storm. The general characteristics of kilometric type II bursts are discussed.Research Associate, University of Maryland, U.S.A.     

Antenna system characteristics and solar radio burst observations

The Chinese Spectral Radio Heliograph(CSRH) is an advanced aperture synthesis solar radio heliograph, independently developed by National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences. It consists of 100 reflector antennas,which are grouped into two antenna arrays(CSRH-I and CSRH-II) for low and high frequency bands respectively. The frequency band of CSRH-I is 0.4–2 GHz and that for CSRH-II is 2–15 GHz. In the antenna and feed system, CSRH uses eleven feeds to receive signals coming from the Sun. The radiation pattern has a lower side lobe and the back lobe of the feed is well illuminated. The characteristics of gain G and antenna noise temperature T affect the quality of solar radio imaging. For CSRH, the measured G is larger than 60 d Bi and T is less than 120 K. After CSRH-I was established, we successfully captured a solar radio burst between 1.2–1.6 GHz on 2010 November12 using this instrument and this event was confirmed through observations with the Solar Broadband Radio Spectrometer at 2.84 GHz and the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite. In addition, an image obtained from CSRH-I clearly revealed the profile of the solar radio burst. The other observational work involved the imaging the Fengyun-2E geosynchronous satellite which is assumed to be a point source.Results indicate that the data processing method applied in this study for deleting errors in a noisy image could be used for processing images from other sources.     

On the S- and B-components of solar radio and X-emission and their relationships to energetic solar events

The slowly varying solar radio and X-ray emissions are considered theoretically and statistically concerning their significance as potential indicators of energy storage processes in active regions leading to large flare-burst events. A correlation analysis has been carried out in order to test different global emission parameters accessable by daily routine measurements regarding their connection with type IV bursts and proton flares. From all investigated quantities systematically best (though not very high) correlations have been verified for both the 3 cm radio and 0–8 Å X-ray fluxes. Increasing correlation coefficients resulted for running averages indicating possible storage processes over several days.There is some evidence favouring the assumption of a small contribution of nonthermal processes to the spectrum of the S-component at burst-active periods which possibly lead to the development of flare-burst instabilities.     

Forecasting the intensity of solar proton events from the time characteristics of solar microwave bursts

A survey of the main characteristics of solar microwave bursts in relation to their usefulness for indicating the intensity of associated solar proton emissions suggests that time parameters give much better results than intensity or spectrum parameters. In particular, best results are obtained by using the effective, or mean, burst duration defined by $$T_M = 1/P_{max} \int_0^T {P(t)dt} $$ where T is the overall burst duration, P is the power density at time T, and P _max is the maximum power density. For proton energies > 10 MeV the proton flux N _p is given approximately by N _p = 0.034 T _M ³ particles ster^?1 cm^?2 s^?1, where T _m is in minutes, with a correlation factor of 0.8. Corresponding coefficients have been derived for a number of energy ranges. Using this parameter solar proton warnings and intensity estimates can be made with observations at only one frequency, preferably in the range 5–20 GHz.     

Theory of solar radio pulsation

We show that the observed modulation of some coronal microwave, X-ray and Type III emission into pulses of 10 sec intervals is a consequence of the stimulation of electron cyclotron waves propagated in the whistler mode in dipole-like bipolar regions of dimension 0.2 R . Assuming that a power law spectrum of 10 keV electrons with a slope similar to solar flare protons can be trapped in a bipolar region, we show that whistlers can be generated by pitch angle instability. The resultant 10 sec bounce motion of whistler wave trains leads to enhanced, modulated emission in microwave and X-ray frequencies by pitch angle scattering of MeV electrons, and to modulated Type III emission by scattering with coherent plasma waves. A direct prediction of the theory is the existence of sympathetic pulsations at two sources a fraction of a solar radius apart. A second test of the theory is that modulated Type III emission should show strong polarization.This work was conducted under U.S. Air Force Space and Missile Systems Organization (SAMSO) Contract No. F04701-69-C-0066.     

Spectral signatures of solar structures

A review of physical properties of various regions of the solar atmosphere is given for both quiet and active sun. More typical morphological and spectral features for each region are presented. Possible genetic relations between solar structures are indicated.Published in Astrofizika, Vol. 38, No. 4, pp. 508–518, October–December, 1995.     

Chaotic behaviour of solar radio flux

The presence of a chaotic attractor is investigated in time series of 10.7 cm solar flux. The correlation dimension and the Kolomogorov entropy have been calculated for the time period 1964–1984. The values found for the Kolmogorov entropy show that chaos is indeed present. The correlation dimension found for high solar activity is 3.3 and for low solar activity is 4.5, indicating that a low-dimensionsion chaotic attractor is present in the time series analysed.     

Energy of solar noise-storm radio bursts

Solar noise storms (NS) are analyzed by an algorithm which separates a random signal into pulses. The burst duration distribution is shown to be inversely proportional to the squared duration of bursts. The distribution ordinates are proportional to the average pulse repetition frequency, and the distribution maximum corresponds to the limiting pulse duration equal to 0.4–0.6 s. The aggregate lifetime of all short-lasting bursts is approximately equal to the aggregate lifetime of bursts of any other duration. The energy of short-lasting bursts with a duration of 0.2–0.4 s is five times smaller than the energy of longer bursts, and it constitutes only 2–5 percent of the energy of the NS burst component. The power of bursts increases as their duration changes from 0.2 to 1.2 s until it reaches some limit at a duration of 1.2–1.4 s. The power of longer bursts remains almost unchanged up to the end of the investigated duration interval (up to durations of 300 s). Solar burst chains can be some superposition of short-lasting bursts on one longer burst. Thus, the burst energy measurements do not support the widespread point of view that solar noise storms consist of short-lasting type I bursts.     

Solar radio events and geomagnetic storms

On the basis of a 24-hr patrol of solar radio noise established since the beginning of the International Geophysical Year, an identification is attempted of those solar flares which, on account of their associated radio responses, most probably were the cause of a geomagnetic storm. The cases for which we think the identification to be reliable are listed. It has appeared that great integrated intensity of the radio outburst at centimeter, decimeter and meter wavelengths is the primary criterion for identifying the solar flares responsible. Most of these giant radio outbursts, to which we assigned the “radio importance” figure 3 +, belong to the so-called type IV. Only a minor fraction of these events were accompanied by slow-drift bursts of type II. Of the importance 3 + radio outbursts about 60 per cent are clearly associated with the subsequent sudden commencement of a geomagnetic storm. Conversely, about 50 per cent of the sudden commencements of a storm can be related to an important radio event. Some reasons, why in a particular case the storm-outburst association may fail to exist, are mentioned.