Plasma motions in the flare of 1982 June 6 (X12)

This paper analyzes soft X-ray spectra obtained from the Hinotori spacecraft for the investigation of plasma motions during the initial phase of the great flare, 1982 June 6. The wavelength calibration of the scanning spectrometers is determined from information on the spacecraft attitude and from the position of the Fexxv resonance line during the decay phase. Hard X-ray bursts, nonthermal line broadenings and blueshifted components in X-ray lines are temporally correlated with time differences of 0–30 s. The possible contribution of the blueshifted component to the line width decreases more rapidly than the nonthermal broadening, which suggests dominant plasma motions are taking place at higher and higher altitude in the corona, because of the increase of electron density in flaring loops. The evolution of the input kinetic energy content to the thermal plasma inferred from line broadenings in the impulsive phase resembles that of the thermal energy content in the source of the Fexxvi emission, which is different from that deduced for Fexxv source. This suggests that the origins of the nonthermal line broadening and Fexxvi source are closely coupled.     

Radio observations of the solar neutron flare of 3 June, 1982

In this paper the solar neutron and white-light flare is studied on the basis of radioastronomical observations. It is shown that the 3 June, 1982 flare had an impulsive character. A strong shock wave (M _A 2.9) was observed unusually soon after the impulsive phase of the flare. The radio spectrum of this event shows that the primary acceleration process probably occurred in the region with an electron density of n _e = 4.4 × 10¹⁵ m^–3. The pulsations of the type IV radio burst, observed 15 min after the mass ejection process, manifest the reconnection process in the post-flare stage.Proceedings of the Workshop on Radio Continua during Solar Flares, held at Duino (Trieste), Italy, 27–31 May, 1985.     

A flare model deduced from Hinotori and millimeterwave interferometer observations

The -ray and white-light flare of 13 May, 1981 is used for a study of spatial distributions of energetic electrons and high-temperature plasma.     

Hα coronagraph observations of a flare spray,March 1, 1969

An H solar prominence with the characteristics of a spray was ejected in association with a bright limb flare. Knots of material were observed to a distance of more than one solar radius above the west limb of the Sun. The optical event was followed by 80 MHz emission from a type IV source which was observed moving out through several solar radii.Coronagraph observations have been used to determine the trajectories and velocities of the knots in directions perpendicular to the line of sight. After some early deceleration velocities increase to 300–500 km/sec and slowly decline with variations depending on the initial direction of outflow. We suggest that the magnetic field over the spot group is deformed by the energy of the mass motions of material fragments, some of which then continue to move outward from the Sun.     

Dynamical processes in the June 26, 1999 flare

The evolutionary and spatial characteristics of the motions in the flaring chromosphere of a 2B/M2.3 flare are investigated by analyzing the asymmetry in the H_α profiles. The possibility of reconciling the results of observations with the theory of chromospheric evaporation is considered. The spectroscopic H_α observations of the flare performed with the KG-2 CrAO coronagraph with a temporal resolution of 5–10 s and a spatial resolution as high as 1 arcsec cover all stages of flare development. The following results have been obtained: (1) The H_α profile asymmetry is a general characteristic of the flare emission irrespective of its intensity and its belonging to different structural features and phases of flare development. (2) Most of the H_α emission profiles in flare regions exhibit a red asymmetry. However, a blue asymmetry was observed in small local regions at all stages of flare development. (3) A red asymmetry that appeared before the onset of the impulsive phase and persisted after its end was observed at the sites of main energy release, i.e., the energy source responsible for the dynamical processes in the flare came into operation earlier and existed longer than the HXR emission. (4) The asymmetry pattern changed with flare phase: the red wing intensity dominated in the pre-impulsive phase and at the onset of the impulsive and gradual phases (while the line core was unshifted or slightly shifted). At the maximum of the impulsive phase, the nearly symmetric profiles with extended wings were redshifted as a whole, i.e., the entire emitting volume moved down with a velocity of several tens of km/s. This type of asymmetry cannot be explained by the dynamical model of chromospheric condensation (Canfield and Gayley 1987). (5) The H_α profiles show no evidence of chromospheric heating by a beam of nonthermal electrons during the impulsive phase (Canfield et al. 1984). (6) The lifetime of the downflows and the change in their velocities with time are inconsistent with the dynamical model of chromospheric condensation (Fisher 1989). (7) The morphological features of the velocity field are also inconsistent with the theory of chromospheric evaporation, because the highest differently directed velocities were detected at the flare loop tops, not at the sites of main energy release. We conclude that the investigated flare shows spectral features that are inconsistent with the standard chromospheric evaporation model.     

Evolution of the high-temperature plasma in the 15 June 1973 flare

The analysis of the high temperature plasma in Fe xxiii–xxiv in the 15 June 1973 flare is presented. The observations were obtained with the NRLXUV spectroheliograph on Skylab. The results are: (1) There was preheating of the active region in which the flare occurred. In particular, a large loop in the vicinity of the flaring region showed enhanced brightness for many hours before the flare. The loop disappeared when the flare occurred, and returned in the postflare phase, as if the energy flux which had been heating the large loop was blocked during the flare and restored after the flare was gone. The large magnetic fields did not change significantly. (2) The flare occurred in low-lying loop or loops. The spatial distribution of flare emission shows that there was a temperature gradient along the loop. (3) The high temperature plasma emitting Fe xxiii and xxiv had an initial upward motion with a velocity of about 80 km s^–1. (4) There was large turbulent mass motion in the high temperature plasma with a random velocity of 100 to 160 km s^–1. (5) The peak temperature of the hot plasma, determined from the Fe xxiii and xxiv intensity ratio, was 14 × 10⁶ K. It decreased slightly and then, for a period of 4 min, remained at 12.6 × 10⁶ K before dropping sharply to below 10 × 10⁶ K. The density of the central core of the hot plasma, determined from absolute intensity of Fe xxiv 255 Å line, was of the order of 10¹¹ cm^–3.The persistence of the high level of turbulence and of the high temperature plateau in the decaying phase of the flare indicates the presence of secondary energy release. From the energy balance equation the required energy source is calculated to be about 3 to 7 ergs cm^–3 s^–1.Ball Brothers Research Corporation.     

Chromospheric heating by electron and proton bombardment in the solar flare of June 7, 1980

Using observations of both hard X-rays and γ-rays in the large solar flare on June 7, 1980, we infer the amount of chromospheric heating due to bombardment both by non-thermal electrons and by protons, respectively. If a thick-target model for the X-ray bremsstrahlung is adopted, then proton heating is shown to be important only in the lower chromosphere; however, if the hard X-rays are substantially thermal in origin, then proton heating may play an important or indeed dominant role in determining the structure of the entire flaring chromosphere.     

The M8.1 flare of 23 June, 1988

H observations of two-ribbon flares often show secondary brightenings which are not directly spatially connected with the main center of activity but which are correlated in time with the primary impulsive flare. We present here a mechanism which explains these secondary brightenings via the reconnection of magnetic loops which are tied to only one of the two ribbons, in contrast with the loops responsible for the main flare which are tied to both ribbons. The distant footpoint is then interpreted as the site of the secondary brightening. We apply our model to the two-ribbon flare of 17:52 UT, 23 June, 1988, which started during the rocket flight of the Normal Incidence X-ray Telescope.Operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., under contract with the National Science Foundation. Partial support for the National Solar Observatory is provided by the USAF under a Memorandum of Understanding with the NSF.     

Helium resonance lines in the flare of 15 June, 1973

Time sequences of He i and He ii resonance line intensities at several sites within the flare of 15 June, 1973 are derived from observations obtained with the Naval Research Laboratory's Slitless Spectroheliograph on Skylab. The data are compared with predictions in six model flare atmospheres based on two values for the heating rate and three for the flux of photoionizing coronal X-rays and EUV. A peak ionizing flux more than 10³ times that in the quiet Sun is indicated. For most conditions in flare kernels the He ii L and L lines are found to be formed by collisional excitation, thereby contributing to the local cooling of the plasma at temperatures above 6 × 10⁴ K. Emission in the higher Lyman lines is generally the result of a mixture of collisional excitation at these temperatures and photoionization and recombination at temperatures near 2.5 × 10⁴ K. We discuss implications for the common practice of deriving stellar coronal fluxes from He ii 1640 Å fluxes assuming dominance of the recombination mechanism.Chief, Quantum Physics Division, National Institute of Standards and Technology.Operated jointly by the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the University of Colorado.Operated by the National Optical Astronomy Observatories of the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc. under contract with the National Science Foundation.     

Flare fragmentation and type III productivity in the 1980 June 27 flare

We present observations of the solar flare on 1980 June 27, 16:14–16:33 UT, which was observed by a balloon-borne 300 cm² phoswich hard X-ray detector and by the IKARUS radio spectrometer. This flare shows intense hard X-ray (HXR) emission and an extreme productivity of (at least 754) type III bursts at 200–400 MHz. A linear correlation was found between the type III burst rate and the HXR fluence, with a coefficient of 7.6 × 10²⁷ photons keV^–1 per type III burst at 20 keV. The occurrence of 10 type III bursts per second, and also the even higher rate of millisecond spikes, suggests a high degree of fragmentation in the acceleration region. This high quantization of injected beams, assuming the thick-target model, shows up in a linear relationship between hard X-ray fluence and the type III rate, but not as fine structures in the HXR time profile.The generation of a superhot isothermal HXR component in the decay phase of the flare coincides with the fade-out of type III production.Universities Space Research Associates.ST Systems Corporation.     

Electron precipitation and mass motion in the 1991 June 9 white-light flare

We use H line profiles as a diagnostic of mass motion and nonthermal electron precipitation in the white-light flare (WLF) of 1991 June 9 01:34 UT. We find only weak downflow velocities (10 km s^–1) at the site of white-light emission, and comparable velocities elsewhere.We also find that electron precipitation is strongest at the WLF site. We conclude that continuum emission in this flare was probably caused by nonthermal electrons and not by dynamical energy transport via a chromospheric condensation.     

Interpretation of the soft X-ray spectra from Hinotori

We present analyses of the soft X-ray iron line spectra of flares obtained from the Bragg Spectrometer on Hinotori. We first present a case of strong K emission at the impulsive phase of the hard X-ray burst, and assess net K emission due to the electron impact by eliminating the fluorescence contribution. Second we discuss on the differences in the electron temperatures and emission measures derived respectively from FeXXVI and FeXXV spectra. A pilot two-temperatures model which can explain the two spectra is presented. Finally, we compare the temporal relations between the soft X-ray and hard X-ray intensities and show two extreme classes of flares, one characterized by the efficient formation of a hot thermal plasma above 30 million degree, and the other characterized by the spiky hard X-ray component. Energetical relation of the thermal plasma to the electron beam is discussed for the two classes.     

Observation of the impulsive phase of a simple flare

We present a broad range of complementary observations of the onset and impulsive phase of a fairly large (1B, M1.2) but simple two-ribbon flare. The observations consist of hard X-ray flux measured by the SMM HXRBS, high-sensitivity measurements of microwave flux at 22 GHz from Itapetinga Radio Observatory, sequences of spectroheliograms in UV emission lines from Ov (T ≈ 2 × 10⁵ K) and Fexxi (T ≈ 1 × 10⁷ K) from the SMM UVSP, Hα and Hei D₃ cine-filtergrams from Big Bear Solar Observatory, and a magnetogram of the flare region from the MSFC Solar Observatory. From these data we conclude:

1. The overall magnetic field configuration in which the flare occurred was a fairly simple, closed arch containing nonpotential substructure.
2. The flare occurred spontaneously within the arch; it was not triggered by emerging magnetic flux.
3. The impulsive energy release occurred in two major spikes. The second spike took place within the flare arch heated in the first spike, but was concentrated on a different subset of field lines. The ratio of Ov emission to hard X-ray emission decreased by at least a factor of 2 from the first spike to the second, probably because the plasma density in the flare arch had increased by chromospheric evaporation.
4. The impulsive energy release most likely occurred in the upper part of the arch; it had three immediate products:

1. An increase in the plasma pressure throughout the flare arch of at least a factor of 10. This is required because the Fexxi emission was confined to the feet of the flare arch for at least the first minute of the impulsive phase.
2. Nonthermal energetic (～ 25 keV) electrons which impacted the feet of the arch to produce the hard X-ray burst and impulsive brightening in Ov and D₃. The evidence for this is the simultaneity, within ± 2 s, of the peak Ov and hard X-ray emissions.
3. Another population of high-energy (～100keV) electrons (decoupled from the population that produced the hard X-rays) that produced the impulsive microwave emission at 22 GHz. This conclusion is drawn because the microwave peak was 6 ± 3 s later than the hard X-ray peak.

     

X-ray imaging of a solar limb flare on 1982 January 22

Simultaneous X-ray images in hard (20–40 keV) and softer (6.5–15 keV) energy ranges were obtained with the hard X-ray telescope aboard the Hinotori spacecraft of an impulsive solar X-ray burst associated with a flare near the solar west limb.The burst was composed of an impulsive component with a hard spectrum and a thermal component with a peak temperature of 2.8 × 10⁷ K. For about one minute, the impulsive component was predominant even in the softer energy range.The hard X-ray image for the impulsive component is an extended single source elongated along the solar limb, rather steady and extends from the two-ribbon H flare up to 10⁴ km above the limb. The centroid of this source image is located about 10 (7 × 10³ km) ± 5 above the neutral line. The corresponding image observed at the softer X-rays is compact and located near the centroid of the hard X-ray image.The source for the thermal component observed in the later phase at the softer X-rays is a compact single source, and it shows a gradual rising motion towards the later phase.     

Multi-wavelength observations of the 2014 June 11 M3.9 flare: temporal and spatial characteristics

We present multi-wavelength observations of an M-class flare(M3.9) that occurred on 2014 June 11. Our observations were conducted with the Dunn Solar Telescope(DST), employing adaptive optics, the multi-camera system Rapid Oscillations in Solar Atmosphere(ROSA), the new Hydrogen-Alpha Rapid Dynamics camera(HARDcam) in various wavelengths, such as Ca II K, Mg I b_2(at 5172.7 ?A), and Hα narrow band and G-band continuum filters. Images were re-constructed using the Kiepenheuer-Institut Speckle Interferometry Package(KISIP) code, to improve our image resolution. We observed intensity increases of ≈120%–150% in the Mg, Ca K and Hα narrow band filters during the flare. Intensity increases for the flare observed in the SDO EUV channels were several times larger, and the X-rays, as recorded by GOES, increased over a factor of 30 for the harder band. Only a modest delay was found between the onset of flare ribbons of a nearby sympathetic flare and the main flare ribbons observed in these narrow band filters. The peak flare emission occurred within a few seconds for the Ca K, Mg and Hα bands. Timedistance techniques indicate propagation velocities of ≈60 km s~(-1) for the main flare ribbon and as high as300 km s~(-1) for smaller regions, which we attribute to filament eruptions. This result and delays and velocities observed with SDO(≈100 km s~(-1)) for different coronal heights agree well with the simple model of energy propagation versus height, although a more detailed model for the flaring solar atmosphere is needed. Finally, we detected marginal quasi-periodic pulsations(QPPs) in the 40–60 s range for the Ca K,Mg and Hα bands, and such measurements are important for disentangling the detailed flare-physics.     

Hard X-ray dynamic spectrum of flares observed by Hinotori

Time variations of the hard X-ray spectrum in solar flares are observed by the hard X-ray spectrometer (HXM) aboard the Hinotori satellite. With a new presentation of the dynamic spectrum we have studied the differences between impulsive and gradual hard X-ray bursts. In the impulsive events a “bent” spectrum up to some hundred keV persists at least until the main peak. In the gradual events, on the other hand, a power-law spectrum augmented by a low-energy excess is dominant.     

Observation of quasi-periodic pulsations in the solar flare SF 900610

A quasi-periodic component was found at the maximum of the X-ray light curve for the June 10, 1990 solar flare detected by the Granat observatory. The pulsation period was 143.2±0.8 s. The intensity of the pulsing component is not constant; the maximum amplitude of the pulsations is ～5% of the total flare intensity. An analysis of the data showed the characteristic size of the magnetic loop responsible for these pulsations to be ～(1–3)×10¹⁰ cm.     

Multiple loop activations and continuous energy release in the solar flare of June 15, 1973

The spatial and temporal evolution of the high temperature plasma in the flare of 1973 June 15 has been studied using the flare images photographed by the NRL XUV spectroheliograph on Skylab.The overall event involves the successive activations of a number of different loops and arches bridging the magnetic neutral line. The spatial shifts and brightenings observed in the Fe xxiii–xxiv lines are interpreted as the activation of new structures. These continued for four or five minutes after the end of the microwave burst phase, implying additional energy-release unrelated to the nonthermal phase of the flare. A shear component observed in the coronal magnetic field may be a factor in the storage and release of the flare energy.The observed Fe xxiii–xxiv intensities define a post-burst heating phase during which the temperature remained approximately constant at 13 × 10⁶ K while the Fe xxiv intensity and 0–3 Å flux rose to peak values. This phase coincided with the activation of the densest structure (N _e = 2 × 10¹¹ cm^–3). Heating of higher loops continued into the decay phase, even as the overall temperature and flux declined with the fading of the lower Fe xxiv arches.The observed morphology of individual flaring arches is consistent with the idea of energy release at altitude in the arch (coincident with a bright, energetic core in the Fe xxiv image) and energy flow downward into the ribbons. The Doppler velocity of the Fe xxi 1354 Å line is less than 5 km s^–1, indicating that the hot plasma region is stationary.The relation of this flare to the larger class of flares associated with filament eruptions and emerging magnetic flux is discussed.     

A solar flare in the Fe I 5324 line on 24 June, 1993

A solar flare with both H and Fe i 5324 emissions was observed in AR 7529 (S13, E65) on 24 June, 1993 at the Bejing Astronomical Observatory. Our calculations show that the Fe i 5324 emission region of the flare was located in the low photosphere at a height of about 180 km above ₅₀₀₀ = 1, which is lower than many previous studies of white-light flares. To study a Fe i 5324 flare, which represents a kind of extreme case in solar flares, would be useful for clarifying some arguments in the researches of white-light flares as well as for understanding the mechanism of solar flares.The synthetic analyses from vairous features of the flare lead to the following possible exciting mechanism of the Fe i 5324 flare: owing to the flow of energetic electrons from the corona and probably also the thermal conduction downward into the lower atmosphere, a condensation with a temperature higher than that below it was formed near the transition region. Then the low photosphere was heated through backwarming. The Fe i 5324 flare occurred as an indicator of the excitation in the low photosphere.     

Analysis of X-ray observations of the 15 June 1973 flare in active region NOAA 131

Observations and analyses of the 1B/M3 flare of 15 June, 1973 in active region NOAA 131 (McMath 12379) are presented. The X-ray observations, consisting of broadband photographs and proportional counter data from the Skylab/ATM NASA-MSFC/Aerospace S-056 experiment, are used to infer temperatures, emission measures, and densities for the flaring plasma. The peak temperature from the spatially resolved photographs is 25 × 10⁶ K, while the temperature from the full-disk proportional counter data is 15 × 10⁶ K. The density is 3 × 10¹⁰cm^–3. The X-ray flare emission appears to come primarily from two low-lying curvilinear features lying perpendicular to and centered on the line where the photospheric longitudinal magnetic field is zero. Similarities in the preflare and postflare X-ray emission patterns indicate that no large-scale relaxation of the coronal magnetic configuration was observed. Also discussed are H and magnetic field observations of the flare and the active region. Finally, results of numerical calculations, including thermal conduction, radiative loss and chromospheric evaporation, are in qualitative agreement with the decay phase observations.Presently at NASA/Marshall Space Flight Center.