Observations of the continuum radio emission from the undisturbed Sun at a wavelength of 8.7 meters

We have mapped the continuum emission from the undisturbed Sun at a wavelength of 8.7 m during 1981–1985 using the large decameter-wave radiotelescope at Gauribidanur, India with a resolution of 26 #x00D7; 38 arc min. During the period August 6–30, 1983, the Sun was exceptionally quiet at meter and decameter wavelengths, and we were able to make maps on several consecutive days. On these days the position of the centroid of the radio Sun agreed quite closely with the center of the optical Sun indicating that there is very little or no contribution from active regions. But the observed peak brightness temperature varied from 100 000 to 700 000 K. The half-power widths of the brightness distribution were in the range of 3 to 4R ^⊙. The variations of the brightness temperature and the half-power widths are not correlate. It is therefore suggested that the variations of the brightness temperature are not caused by uniform density variations or due to scattering by an irregular corona.     

The Morphology of Decimetric Emission from Solar Flares: GMRT Observations

Observations of a solar flare at 617 MHz with the Giant Meter-wave Radio Telescope (GMRT) are used to study the morphology of flare radio emission at decimetric wavelengths. There has been very little imaging in the 500 – 1000 MHz frequency range, but it is of great interest, since it corresponds to densities at which energy is believed to be released in solar flares. This event has a very distinctive morphology at 617 MHz: the radio emission is clearly resolved by the 30″ beam into arc-shaped sources seeming to lie at the tops of long loops, anchored at one end in the active region in which the flare occurs, with the other end lying some 200 000 km away in a region of quiet solar atmosphere. Microwave images show fairly conventional behaviour for the flare in the active region: it consists of two compact sources overlying regions of opposite magnetic polarity in the photosphere. The decimetric emission is confined to the period leading up to the impulsive phase of the flare, and does not extend over a wide frequency range. This fact suggests a flare mechanism in which the magnetic field at considerable height in the corona is destabilized a few minutes prior to the main energy release lower in the corona. The radio morphology also suggests that the radiating electrons are trapped near the tops of magnetic loops, and therefore may have pitch angles near 90˚.     

Slowly varying component spectrum of the solar radio emission at millimetre wavelengths

This paper deals with the observed data on the solar S-component sources at millimetre wavelengths. The observations were made in 1968 and 1969 using the 22-m radio telescope of the Crimean Astrophysical Observatory at six wavelengths: 2, 4, 6, 8, 13 and 17 mm. The enhanced intensity of the solar active region in comparison with the quiet Sun level varies proportionally to ^–2 if the wavelength is within the range of 2 ÷ 6 mm. In the wavelength band of 6 ÷ 17 mm almost flat spectra of the solar S-component sources is observed. Assuming the bremsstrahlung mechanism of the radio emission for the quiet Sun and the solar active regions an attempt has been made to treat the above presented data. It appears that the most probable explanation of the 2 ÷ 6 mm spectrum is that the S-component sources are opaque. In the 6 ÷ 17 mm wavelength band there are two possibilities: the active region may be either transparent or opaque. But in the last case the source brightness temperature must be proportional to ². Some differences in the spectra of the sources, identified with flocculi and with bipolar sunspot groups, were mentioned. The cold regions (as compared with the quiet Sun) were observed up to = 2 mm and identified with the filaments. However, its visibility falls when the wavelength decreases.     

Long-Lived Microbursts in the Decimetric Wavelength Range and Their Connection with Noise Storms

In the present work a statistical analysis of long-lived microbursts (MBs) in the decimetric wavelength range was performed for the first time. Long-lived microbursts at decimetric wavelengths were observed with one-dimensional scans on the RATAN-600 radio telescope in intensity and circular polarization with a sensitivity of about 5 – 10 Jy. MBs have fluxes in the range of 0.001 – 0.1 s.f.u. and polarization degrees of 10 – 100%, and the duration of individual bursts is about 1 – 2 s. Microbursts and background sources exist for several days and appear at the sites of prolonged energy release. In this work MBs were compared with noise storms (NSs) in the metric wavelength range. Our analysis shows with high confidence that MBs are manifestation of NSs in the decimetric wavelength range. The reason for the significant difference in flux between MBs and NSs could be because MBs (unlike NSs) are related to incoherent generation of Langmuir waves. The nature of the MB emission is similar to the smoothly varying (background) emission of the NSs, butthe MB emission is impulsive because of the high rate of pitch-angle diffusion.     

The Geminga fraction

Radio-quiet γ-ray pulsars like Geminga may account for a number of the unidentified EGRET sources in the Galaxy. The number of Geminga-like pulsars is very sensitive to the geometry of both the γ-ray and radio beams. Recent studies of the shape and polarization of pulse profiles of young radio pulsars have provided evidence that their radio emission originates in wide cone beams at altitudes that are a significant fraction (1–10%) of their light cylinder radius. Such wide radio emission beams will be visible at a much larger range of observer angles than the narrow core components thought to originate at lower altitude. Using 3D geometrical modeling that includes relativistic effects from pulsar rotation, we study the visibility of such radio cone beams as well as that of the γ-ray beams predicted by slot gap and outer gap models. From the results of this study, one can obtain revised predictions for the fraction of Geminga-like, radio quiet pulsars present in the γ-ray pulsar population.      

Multifrequency radio observations of coronal holes,filaments and cavities on RATAN–600

On the basis of multifrequency solar radio observations made on RATAN–600 radiotelescope with high spatial resolution at nine wavelengths in the 2–32–wavelength range is shown that filaments and cavities are well detected on the solar scans at short centimeter wavelengths as the regions of low radio brightness with angular dimensions of 25′–80′ in E—W direction. The tendency of decreasing radio sizes for cavities and filaments from 2.0 to 8.0 cm is observed. The coronal hole (CH) is more contrast in the range of 8–32 cm. The radio size of CH in E—N direction increases from 2′ (at 8.2) to 5′.0 (at 31.6 cm). The spectra of the brightness temperature of CH and the quiet Sun are obtained. The brightness temperature of CH is twice lower than that of the quiet Sun at wavelength of 31.6 cm.     

Low‐frequency heliographic observations of the quiet Sun corona

We present new results of heliographic observations of quiet‐Sun radio emission fulfilled by the UTR‐2 radio telescope. The solar corona investigations have been made close to the last solar minimum (Cycle 23) in the late August and early September of 2010 by means of the two‐dimensional heliograph within 16.5–33 MHz. Moreover, the UTR‐2 radio telescope was used also as an 1‐D heliograph for one‐dimensional scanning of the Sun at the beginning of September 2010 as well as in short‐time observational campaigns in April and August of 2012. The average values of integral flux density of the undisturbed Sun continuum emission at different frequencies have been found. Using the data, we have determined the spectral index of quiet‐Sun radio emission in the range 16.5–200 MHz. It is equal to –2.1±0.1. The brightness distribution maps of outer solar corona at frequencies 20.0 MHz and 26.0 MHz have been obtained. The angular sizes of radio Sun were estimated. It is found that the solar corona at these frequencies is stretched‐out along equatorial direction. The coefficient of corona ellipticity varies slightly during above period. Its mean magnitudes are equal to ≈ 0.75 and ≈ 0.73 at 20.0 MHz and 26.0 MHz, respectively. The presented results for continuum emission of solar corona conform with being ones at higher frequencies. (© 2013 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Intensity Distribution and Contrast of the Solar EUV Network

Intensity distributions of the EUV network and the cell interior in the solar atmosphere have been obtained in fourteen emission lines from Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO)/Coronal Diagnostic Spectrometer (CDS) observations. The formation temperature of the observed lines is in the range log T=4.90 – 6.06 (T in Kelvin), and hence they represent increasing heights in the solar atmosphere from the upper chromosphere and the transition region to the low corona. Intensity distributions of the cell interior have been found to be different in the quiet Sun and the coronal hole even at the lower transition region, which is at variance with some earlier results. The intensity contrast of the network with respect to the cell interior has been obtained for each line, and differences in the quiet Sun and the coronal hole have been examined. The network contrast, in general, is lower for the coronal hole as compared to the quiet Sun, but becomes equal to it in the upper transition region. The maximum contrast for both the regions is at about log T=5.3. Also obtained are the relative contributions of the network and the cell interior to the total intensity. The implications of the results for models of the transition region are briefly mentioned.     

The 3.3-mm brightness distribution of the quiet sun

Center-to-limb brightness distribution measurements of the quiet Sun at a wavelength of 3.3 mm show that there is a slight limb brightening at this wavelength. Within the measurement accuracy of the system used, the limb brightening function is only radially dependent. At 3.3 mm, the measurements are consistent with a solar brightness curve that is flat to about r = 0.8 with a rapid increase to a peak value of about 1.3 at the limb. The results show that most of the central disk 3.3-mm emission comes from a thin layer of relatively constant temperature about 1500–3500 km above the photosphere. This work was supported by the U.S. Air Force under Contract No. F04701-69-C-0066.     

Lifetimes of High-Degree <Emphasis Type="Italic">p</Emphasis> Modes in the Quiet and Active Sun

We study variations of the lifetimes of high-ℓ solar p modes in the quiet and active Sun with the solar activity cycle. The lifetimes in the degree range ℓ=300 – 600 and ν=2.5 – 4.5 mHz were computed from SOHO/MDI data in an area including active regions and quiet Sun using the time – distance technique. We applied our analysis to the data in four different phases of solar activity: 1996 (at minimum), 1998 (rising phase), 2000 (at maximum), and 2003 (declining phase). The results from the area with active regions show that the lifetime decreases as activity increases. The maximal lifetime variations are between solar minimum in 1996 and maximum in 2000; the relative variation averaged over all ℓ values and frequencies is a decrease of about 13%. The lifetime reductions relative to 1996 are about 7% in 1998 and about 10% in 2003. The lifetime computed in the quiet region still decreases with solar activity, although the decrease is smaller. On average, relative to 1996, the lifetime decrease is about 4% in 1998, 10% in 2000, and 8% in 2003. Thus, measured lifetime increases when regions of high magnetic activity are avoided. Moreover, the lifetime computed in quiet regions also shows variations with the activity cycle.     

Brightness temperature distribution in solar corona based on RATAN-600 observations of the maximum phase of the March 29, 2006 solar eclipse

We describe the technique and results of modelling the solar radio emission during the maximum phase of the solar eclipse of March 29, 2006 on the RATAN-600. The aim of modelling is to refine the brightness temperature of the solar corona at the distances up to two solar radii from the center of the optical disk of the Sun. We obtained the distribution of brightness temperature in the vicinity of the coronal hole above the solar North Pole at the wavelength of 13 cm. The results of modelling showed that brightness temperatures of the coronal hole at the distances greater than 1.02 R_C (here R_C is the radius of the optical disk of the Sun) is substantially lower than the expected average brightness temperature of a typical coronal hole, and that of the quiescent Sun (below 30000 K) at the wavelength of 13 cm. The classical Baumbach-Allen formula for electron density in a spherically symmetric corona agrees with the results of observations starting at distances of (1.4–1.5) R_C.     

Time-varying sources derived from EUV spectroheliograms of the quiet Sun

Activity in the chromosphere-corona transition region of the quiet Sun is found both at network boundaries and in cell interiors using a time series of the EUV spectroheliograms obtained with the Harvard experiment on Skylab. We identify time-varying sources by subtracting the minimum count at each pixel in the time series from the counts at any time. Larger flux enhancements in emission lines occur only at the network boundary, though the cell interiors also have variable intensities. Time-varying sources in the cell interior appear often in the shape of streaks which seem to originate from sources at the network boundary, or as expanding network boundary sources. It is likely that the sources in the cell interior come from the transition sheaths of chromospheric inhomogenities. A multi-temperature analysis shows that two types of sources occur in the quiet Sun. One is due to heating of cool chromospheric inhomogenities like dark mottles. Sometimes cool matter is heated to coronal temperatures. The typical mass of the coronal material produced is 10¹¹-10¹²g. The other type seems to be due to draining of transition region material at the network boundary as the result of thermal instabilities. This quiet Sun activity is compatible with the time-varying sources at 6 cm wavelength.     

X-ray observations of PSR B0355+54 and its pulsar wind nebula

We present X-ray data of the middle-aged radio pulsar PSR B0355+54. The XMM-Newton and Chandra observations show not only emission from the pulsar itself, but also compact diffuse emission extending ∼50″ in the opposite direction to the pulsar’s proper motion. Our analysis also indicates the presence of fainter diffuse emission extending ∼5′ from the point source. The morphology of the diffuse component is similar to the ram-pressure confined pulsar wind nebulae detected for other sources. We find that the compact diffuse component is well-fitted with a power-law, with an index that is consistent with the values found for other pulsar wind nebulae. The core emission from the pulsar can be characterized with a thermal plus power-law fit, with the thermal emission most likely originating in a hot polar cap.     

A new sample of gigahertz-peaked-spectrum, extra-galactic radio sources

A new sample of extra-Galactic radio sources having a peak in the continuous spectrum near 1 GHz has been compiled, using data available in the literature on their radio flux densities, and some characteristic parameters of radio sources in this sample have been calculated. The median value of the calculated spectral indices of radio sources in the sample is -0.95, the median flux density at the peak (S_m) is 465 mJy, and almost half the radio sources (14 out of 30) have ultrasteep spectra, for which the spectral indices in the high-frequency range are α <-1.0 (S ∝ v^α). Translated from Astrofizika, Vol. 41, No. 3, pp. 377–388, July–September, 1998.     

Hydrogen-like nitrogen radio line from hot interstellar and warm-hot intergalactic gas

The hyperfine-structure lines of highly charged ions may allow one to look at hot rarefied astrophysical plasmas from a new perspective. In this paper, we discuss the spectral lines of ions and isotopes abundant at temperatures 10⁵–10⁷ K characteristic of a warm-hot intergalactic gas, a hot interstellar medium, starburst galaxies, their superwinds, and young supernova remnants. Observations of these lines will make it possible to study the bulk and turbulent motions in the observed objects and will supplement the information about the ionization state and chemical and isotopic compositions of the gas. The line of the main nitrogen isotope with wavelength λ = 5.65 mm is of particular interest. The wavelength of this line is well suited for observations of objects at z ≈ 0.15−0.6, when it is redshifted to the spectral range 6.5–9 mm widely used in ground-based radio observations, and, for example, for z ≥ 1.3, when the line is redshifted to 1.3 cm or farther. Modern and future radio telescopes and interferometers are capable of observing the ¹⁴N VII absorption by the warm-hot intergalactic gas at redshifts higher than z ≈ 0.15 in the spectra of the brightest millimeter-band sources. The submillimeter emission lines of the most abundant isotopes with hyperfine splitting may also be detected in the spectra of young supernova remnants. The article was translated by the authors.     

Broadband Radio Bursts and Fine Structures during the Great Solar Event on 14 July 2000

25 MHz–7.6 GHz global and detailed (fine structure – FS) radio spectra are presented, which were observed in the NOAA 9077 active region for the Bastille Day (14 July 2000) flare at 10:10–11:00 UT. Besides broadband radio bursts, high-resolution dynamic spectra reveal metric type II burst, decimetric type IV burst and various decimetric and microwave FSs, such as type III bursts, type U bursts, reverse-slope (RS)-drifting burst, fiber bursts, patch and drifting pulsation structure (DPS). The peak-flux-density spectrum of the radio bursts over the range 1.0–7.6 GHz globally appears as a U-shaped signature. Analyzing the features of backbone and herringbones of the type II burst, the speeds of shock and relevant energetic electron beams were estimated to be 1100 km s⁻¹ and 58 500 km s⁻¹, respectively. Also the time sequence of the radio emission is analyzed by comparing with the hard X-rays (HXRs) and the soft X-rays (SXRs) in this flare. After the maxima of the X-rays, the radio emission in the range 1.0–7.6 GHz reached maxima first at the higher frequency, then drifted to the lower frequency. This comparison suggested that the flare included three successive processes: firstly the X-rays rose and reached maxima at 10:10–10:23 UT, accompanied by fine structures only in the range 2.6–7.6 GHz; secondly the microwave radio emission reached maxima accompanied by many fine structures over the range 1.0–7.6 GHz at 10:23–10:34 UT; then a decimetric type IV burst and its associated FSs (fibers) in the range 1.0–2.0 GHz appeared after 10:40 UT.     

The Infrared Spectrum of Comet Hele–Bopp as Seen by the Infrared Space Observatory

Spectra of comet C/1995 O1 (Hale-Bopp) were obtained with the Infrared Space Observatory (ISO) at medium resolution with the grating spectrometer in the photometer (PHT-S) and/or at high resolution with the short wavelength spectrometer (SWS) and long wavelength spectrometer (LWS) in April 1996 (Crovisier et al., 1996), September–October 1996 (Crovisier et al., 1997a, b) and December 1997, at distances from the Sun of 4.6, 2.9 and 3.9 AU, respectively. For the first time, high-resolution spectra of a comet covering the entire 2.4 to 200 μm spectral range were obtained. The vibrational bands of H₂O, CO₂ and CO are detected in emission with PHT-S. Relative production rates of 100:22:70 are derived for H₂O:CO₂:CO at 3 AU pre-perihelion. H₂O is observed at high spectral resolution in the ν₃ group of bands around 2.7 μm and the ν₂ group around 6 μm with SWS, and in several rotational lines in the 100–180 μm region with LWS. The high signal-to-noise ratio of the ν₃ band observed on September–October 1996 allows accurate determinations of the water rotational temperature (28 K) and of its ortho-to-para ratio(2.45 ± 0.10, which significantly differs from the high temperature limit and corresponds to a spin temperature of 25 K). Longward of 6 μm the spectrum is dominated by dust thermal continuum emission, upon which broad emission features are superimposed. The wavelengths of the emission peaks correspond to those of Mg-rich crystalline olivine (forsterite). In the September–October 1996 spectra, emission features at 45 and 65 μm and possible absorption at 2.9–3.2 μm suggest that grains of water ice were present at 3 AU from the Sun. The observations made post-perihelion in late December 1997 led to the detections of H₂O, CO₂ and CO at 3.9 AU from the Sun (Figures 1 and 2). The production rates were ≈3.0 × 10²⁸,3.5 × 10²⁸ and ≈1.5 × 10²⁹ s^-1, respectively. This corresponds to H₂O:CO₂:CO = 100:110:500 and confirms that at such distances from the Sun, cometary activity is dominated by sublimation of CO and CO₂ rather than by H₂O. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Large-Scale Structure of the Atmosphere of the Quiet Sun,Coronal Holes,and Plages as Deduced by Tomography Study

We present here the results of emission tomography studies, based on a new differential deconvolution method (DDM) of Laplace transform inversion, which we use for reconstruction of the coronal emission measure distributions in the quiet Sun, coronal holes and plage areas. Two methods are explored. The first method is based on the deconvolution of radioemission brightness spectra in a wide wavelength range (1 mm–100 cm) for temperature profile reconstructions from the corona to the deeper chromosphere. The second method uses radio brightness measurements in the cm–dm range to give a coronal column emission measure (EM).Our results are based on RATAN-600 observations in the range 2.0–32 cm supplemented by the data of other observatories during the period near minimum solar activity. This study gives results that agree with known estimates of the coronal EM values, but reveals the absence of any measurable quantities of EM in the transition temperature region 3 × 10⁴ –10⁵ K for all studied large-scale structures. The chromospheric temperature structure (T _e = 20,000–5800 K) is quite similar for all objects with extremely low-temperature gradients at deep layers.Some refraction effects were detected in the decimeter range for all Types of large-scale structures, which suggests the presence of dense and compact loops (up to N _e =(1–3)× 10⁹ cm^-3 number density) for the quiet-Sun coronal regions with temperature T _e > 5× 10^-5 K.     

Small-scale magnetic field diagnostics outside sunspots: Comparison of different methods

We analyse different observational data related to the problem of intrinsic magnetic field strength in small-scale fluxtubes outside sunspots. We conclude that the kG range of fluxtube fields follows from not only classical line ratio method, but also from other old and new techniques. For the quiet regions on the Sun, the most probable mode of such fields has a magnetic field strength of 1.2–1.5 kG assuming the rectangular field profile. To best interpret the observations, a weak background field between fluxtubes should be assumed, and its magnetic field strength is expected to increase with the filling factor of fluxtubes. The alternative point of view about subkilogauss fluxtube fields is critically examined, and possible sources of different conclusions are presented.     

Fine structure of the Sun at 1.3 cm wavelength

The two-element interferometer at Hat Creek Observatory was used at 1.3 cm wavelength to study the fine structure of the radio emissive regions on the Sun. Observations of the quiet Sun at 1.3 cm show sudden changes in the fringe amplitude and phase, lasting for typically about 5–8 min. Assuming that these events are identical in nature, a plot of peak amplitude vs the projected baseline at the time of the event suggests emission from a region of angular size of about 10″. The corresponding brightness temperature is 50000 K. It is possible that these events may be related to the appearance and disappearance of groups of spicules or mottles.