Shock waves and type II radiobursts in the interplanetary medium

The planetary radio astronomy experiment on the Voyager spacecraft observed several type II solar radiobursts at frequencies below 1.3 MHz; these correspond to shock waves at distances between 20R and 1 AU from the Sun. We study the characteristics of these bursts and discuss the information that they give on shock waves in the interplanetary medium and on the origin of the high energy electrons which give rise to the radioemission. The relatively frequent occurence of type II bursts at large distances from the Sun favors the hypothesis of the emission by a longitudinal shockwave. The observed spectral characteristics reveal that the source of emission is restricted to only a small portion of the shock. From the relation between type II bursts, type III bursts and optical flares, we suggest that some of the type II bursts could be excited by type III burst fast electrons which catch up the shock and are then trapped.     

A relationship between the brightness temperatures for type III bursts

Type III bursts often have brightness temperatures at the fundamental greater than 10⁹K. If the fundamental emission is due to scattering of Langmuir waves into transverse waves by thermal ions, this implies that induced scattering dominates over spontaneous scattering, which in turn requires that the energy density in Langmuir waves be greater than some minimum value, e.g. W ^l > 3 × 10^-10 erg cm^-3 for bursts at f _p = 100 MHz. Such Langmuir waves become isotropic on a time-scale shorter than the rise-time of type III bursts, e.g. < l s at f _p = 100 MHz. Consequently, their coalescence, leading to emission at the second harmonic, proceeds. The above inequalities would imply a brightness temperature at the second harmonic in excess of 10⁹K at f = 200 MHz.The predicted values of the brightness temperatures _T1 ^t and _T2 ^t (at the fundamental and second harmonic respectively) can be expressed in terms of an optical depth . After is eliminated a functional relation between _T1 ^t , _T2 ^t and the plasma frequency, f _p , remains. The form of this relation is not dependent on a quantitative theory of how the Langmuir waves are generated by the stream of electrons. Consequently, comparison with observed quantities should provide further insight into the detailed properties of the emission processes.     

Neutralization and stabilization of particle streams in the corona and type III radio bursts

The processes by which streams of charged particles become charge and current neutralized in the corona are investigated. It is shown that a large amplitude plasma wave, which is related to precursor phenomenon in type III bursts and possibly plasma radiation from type IV bursts, will be excited at the head of the stream. The energy extracted from the stream to produce this plasma wave is computed and used to set conservative upper limits on the densities of possible excitors for type III bursts. For electron streams the density n _s < 10^–5 n _e, where n _e is the density of the background plasma. For proton streams n _s < 1.8 × 10^–2 n _e. The energy extracted from the stream is also used to set upper limits on the lifetimes of relativistic electrons stored in the corona and it is concluded that for n _e > 10² cm^–3 this loss must be taken into account. Since electron streams cannot produce their own stabilizing ionacoustic waves because they would violate the condition n _s < 10^–5 n _e, other mechanisms for producing ion-acoustic waves in the corona are examined. Another stabilization mechanism due to velocity inhomogeneity is investigated.The National Center for Atmospheric Research is sponsored by the National Science Foundation.     

Interplanetary particle beams

The purpose of this paper is to review the observations of particle beams of the kind that are frequently observed in the interplanetary medium, usually but not always accompanying a solar flare. Most frequent are beams of electrons. They are generally associated with radio bursts of type III and only sometimes with flares and X-ray bursts. The properties of these electron beams have been well studied using quasi-linear and nonlinear theory, in situ observations of electrons and of plasma waves, and remote observations of radio waves Thanks to the interaction between theory and observation, the decade of the 1980s has been one of great progress in understanding the main features of these beams and their associated plasma waves and radio bursts. However, uncertainties remain in terms of (1) whether fine scale features, filamentary structures or wave condensations, occur together with the beams, (2) whether quasi-linear or nonlinear wave emission is the dominant process, and (3) if wave condensations are important, what is the mechanism of conversion of some Langmuir wave energy into radio emission.Other particle beams are composed of protons, of neutrons, of helium ions (sometimes with a large excess of ³He), and of heavy ions with varying concentrations. Sometimes the observations seem to require the fractionation of certain ions, followed by resonant acceleration of certain species.Objects other than the Sun that are the source of interplanetary particle beams include comets and planets, especially the Earth and Jupiter.     

Numerical simulation of type III solar radio bursts caused by high-density electron beam

Numerical simulation for the type III solar radio bursts in meter wavelengths was made with the electron beam of a high number density enough to emit fundamental radio waves comparable in intensity with the second harmonic.This requirement is fulfilled if the optical thickness ₁ for the negative absorption (amplification) becomes -23 to -25. Since ₁ is roughly proportional to the time-integral of the electron flux of the beam, the intensity of the fundamental waves depends strongly on the parameters which determine the electron flux. Therefore, it is most unlikely that the harmonic pairs of type III bursts of the first and the second harmonics occur frequently with comparable intensities in a wide frequency range, say 200 MHz to 20 MHz, if we take the working hypothesis that the fundamental waves are caused by the scattering of electron plasma waves by thermal ions and amplified during the propagation along the beam.However, we cannot rule out the possibility that single type III bursts with short durations or group of such bursts are the fundamental waves emitted by the above mechanism, but only if the observed large size of the radio source can be attributed to the radio scattering alone.     

Bidirectional Type III Solar Radio Bursts

Bidirectional coronal type III bursts are modeled by combining a model of coronal electron heating and beam generation via time-of-flight effects with semiquantitative estimates of quasilinear relaxation. Electromagnetic emissivities are estimated by extending the recently developed theory of interplanetary type III bursts to coronal emissions, including its features of stochastic Langmuir-wave growth and three-wave interactions. The results are investigated for heating on open and closed coronal field lines and are compared with observations of normal, reverse-slope, bidirectional, and inverted-J and -U coronal type III radio bursts. Harmonic emission is predicted to dominate at plasma frequencies above roughly 100 MHz where the efficiency of fundamental emission falls off steeply, while its free-free reabsorption rises. The model also explains the observed trends in the likelihood of occurrence of normal, reverse-slope, and bidirectional coronal type III bursts.     

Fundamental and Harmonic Emission in Type III Solar Radio Bursts – I. Emission at a Single Location or Frequency

A model of type III solar radio bursts is developed that incorporates large-angle scattering and reabsorption of fundamental emission amid ambient density fluctuations in the corona and solar wind. Comparison with observations shows that this model accounts semiquantitatively for anomalous harmonic ratios, the exponential decay constant of bursts, burst rise times, and the directivity of fundamental emission. It is concluded that the long emission tail on interplanetary type III bursts is mostly fundamental emission, while much of the anomalous time delay of fundamental relative to harmonic emission from a given location must be ascribed to other causes.     

Dynamics of a cloud of fast electrons travelling through the plasma

A simulation of normal type III radio bursts has been made in a whole frequency range of about 200 MHz to 30 kHz by the usage of the semi-analytical method as developed in previous papers for the plasma waves excited by a cloud of fast electrons. Three-dimensional plasma waves are computed, though the velocities of fast electrons are assumed to be one-dimensional. Many basic problems about type III radio bursts and associated solar electrons have been solved showing the following striking or unexpected results.Induced scattering of plasma waves, by thermal ions, into the plasma waves with opposite wave vectors is efficient even for a solar electron cloud of rather low number density. Therefore, the second harmonic radio emission as attributed to the coalescence of two plasma waves predominates in a whole range from meter waves to km waves. Fundamental radio emission as ascribed to the scattering of plasma waves by thermal ions is negligibly small almost in the whole range. On the other hand, third harmonic radio emission can be strong enough to be observed in a limited frequency range.If, however, the time integral of electron flux is, for example, 2 × 10¹³ cm^–2 (>5 keV) or more at the height of 4.3 × 10¹⁰ cm ( _p = 40 MHz) above the photosphere, the fundamental may be comparable with or greater than the second harmonic, but an effective area of cross-section of the electron beam is required to be very small, 10¹⁷ cm² or less, and hence much larger sizes of the observed radio sources must be attributed to the scattering alone of radio waves.The radio flux density expected at the Earth for the second harmonic can increase with decreasing frequencies giving high flux densities at low frequencies as observed, if x-dependence of the cross-sectional area of the electron beam is x ^1.5 or less instead of x ², at least at x 2 × 10¹² cm.The second harmonic radio waves are emitted predominantly into forward direction at first, but the direction of emission may reverse a few times in a course of a single burst showing a greater backward emission at the low frequencies.In a standard low frequency model, a total number of solar electrons above 18 keV arriving at the Earth orbit reduces to 12% of the initial value due mainly to the collisional decay of plasma waves before the waves are reabsorbed by the beam electrons arriving later. However, no deceleration of the apparent velocity of exciter appears. A change in the apparent velocity, if any, results from a change in growth rate of the plasma waves instead of the deceleration of individual electrons.Near the Earth, the peak of second harmonic radio flux as emitted from the local plasma appears well after the passage of a whole solar electron cloud through this layer. This is ascribed to the secondary and the third plasma waves as caused in non-resonant regions by the induced scattering of primary plasma waves in a resonant region.     

A study of non-thermal radio emission features using fine spectral BAO and high-sensitivity RATAN observations of a solar active region

Based on spectral observations of active region NOAA 8545 on 19 May 1999, we describe the processes responsible for non-thermal long-lasting radio emission and for narrow-band non-drifting bursts observed at the same time. Non-thermal long-lasting radio emission consisted of two components: short-duration (1–2 s) microbursts with fluxes about 0.001 s.f.u. and continuum emission with growing spectrum in the range of 1000–2000 MHz. Energetic electrons continuously existed in the active region for more than 2.2 hours. The nature and parameters of microbursts were discussed by Bogod, Mercier, and Yasnov (2001). Here we consider the continuum source nature. It is shown that the model, taking into account the cyclotron loss-cone instability of hot electrons and the generation of plasma waves at the upper hybrid frequency, may explain the observed continuum source parameters. For the narrow-band non-drifting bursts we consider two models: the first taking into account an excitation of weak shock waves across the magnetic field and the second with an excitation of the upper hybrid waves under the double plasma resonance. Continuum source parameters are close to the last model. Our estimations for the magnetic field strength are as follows: H=120–126 G, which is valid for the region where the electron density of background plasmas n=(1.4–1.9) ×10⁹ cm^–3; H=180–190 G for the region where n=(3.0–4.3) ×10⁹ cm^–3; H=290 G for the region where n _e=2.5×10¹⁰ cm^–3; and H=350 G for the region where n _e=3.5×10¹⁰ cm^–3. The speed of the fast electrons is about 0.10–0.14 c.     

Tracing the Electron Density from the Corona to 1 au

We derive the electron density distribution in the ecliptic plane, from the corona to 1 AU, using observations from 13.8 MHz to a few kHz by the radio experiment WAVES aboard the spacecraft Wind. We concentrate on type III bursts whose trajectories intersect the spacecraft, as determined by the presence of burst-associated Langmuir waves, or by energetic electrons observed by the 3-D Plasma experiment. For these bursts we are able to determine the mode of emission, fundamental or harmonic, the electron density at 1 AU, the distance of emission regions along the spiral, and the time spent by the beams as they proceed from the low corona to 1 AU. For all of the bursts considered, the emission mode at burst onset was the fundamental; by contrast, in deriving many previous models, harmonic emission was assumed.By measuring the onset time of the burst at each frequency we are able to derive an electron density model all along the trajectory of the burst. Our density model, after normalizing the density at 1 AU to be ne(215 R0)=7.2 cm–3 (the average value at the minimum of solar activity when our measurements were made), is ne=3.3×105 r–2+4.1×106 r–4+8.0×107 r–6 cm–3, with r in units of R0. For other densities at 1 AU our result implies that the coefficients in the equation need to be multiplied by n _e (1 AU)/7.2.We compare this with existing models and those derived from direct, in-situ measurements (normalized to the same density at 1 AU) and find that it agrees very well with in-situ measurements and poorly with radio models based on apparent source positions or assumptions of the emission mode. One implication of our results is that isolated type III bursts do not usually propagate in dense regions of the corona and solar wind, as it is still sometimes assumed.     

Ion-Sound Model of Microwave Spikes with Fast Shocks in the Reconnection Region

A new model for solar spike bursts is considered based on the interaction of Langmuir waves with ion-sound waves: l+st. Such a mechanism can operate in shock fronts, propagating from a magnetic reconnection region. New observations of microwave millisecond spikes are discussed. They have been observed in two events: 4 November 1997 between 05:52–06:10 UT and 28 November 1997 between 05:00–05:10 UT using the multichannel spectrograph in the range 2.6–3.8 GHz of Beijing AO. Yohkoh/SXT images in the AR and SOHO EIT images testify to a reconstruction of bright loops after the escape of a CME. A fast shock front might be manifested as a very bright line in T _e SXT maps (up to 20 MK) above dense structures in emission measure (EM) maps. Moreover one can see at the moment of spike emission (for the 28 November 1997 event) an additional maximum at the loop top on the HXR map in the AR as principal evidence of fast shock propagation. The model gives the ordinary mode of spike emission. Sometimes we observed a different polarization of microwave spikes that might be connected with the depolarization of the emission in the transverse magnetic field and rather in the vanishing magnetic field in the middle of the QT region. Duration and frequency band of isolated spikes are connected with parameters of fast particle beams and shock front. Millisecond microwave spikes are probably a unique manifestation of flare fast shocks in the radio emission.     

Statistical analysis of high-frequency decimetric type III bursts

Here we report the statistical analysis of 160 isolated decimetric type III bursts, a majority of them (74%) having central frequency above 1000 MHz, observed in 8 flares by the spectrometer Phoenix. The most important finding of the detailed analysis is: 67% of all the bursts are reverse slope, 38% normal and 5% bi-directional. Also, we obtained the following results: (a) the best fits for the average half power duration and for the average drift rate as a function of frequency are given by t_1/2=1.7×10⁴f^–0.60and /df/dt|=(0.09±0.03)f^{(1.35 ± 0.10)}, respectively; (b) the frequency range of most of the type III bursts is less than 250 MHz; (c) the number of bursts decreases with increasing starting frequency and flux; (d) peak flux decreases with increasing frequency. The relations obtained fit well for higher frequency observations. Assuming an improved density model and type III emission at 2^ndharmonic, the beam parameters of type III bursts are determined.     

Relationship of solar coronal millimetre wave sources to bursts in the centimetre range

A sample of 48 observations of coronal mm-wave (off-limb) sources (CMMSs) has been analysed in order to check relationships to cm-wave bursts and to study the emission process. CMMSs appear to be related to gradual and/or stronger microwave bursts with post-burst increase which start up to a few hours prior to the time of the mm-wave observations. The lifetime of CMMSs is much larger than that of these bursts. The interpretation of the mm-wave emission by optically thick bremsstrahlung at the temperature T_b,o ≈ 10⁴ K (which also corresponds to observations in Hα) requires emission measures N²_e Δs ≧ 2 · 10²⁸ cm⁻⁵ at 37 GHz. On the other hand, optically thin bremsstrahlung at temperatures of T_e ≈ 5 · 10⁶–10⁷ K (which are observed in X-rays) can apply to cm-waves. Application of this mechanism to mm-waves, too, would require source sizes much smaller than the half-power beam width (HPBW) of the radio telescopes (so that in this case the presently observed brightness temperatures T_b,o would be underestimated).     

Evidence for electron excitation of type III radio burst emission

Type III radio bursts observed at kilometric wavelengths ( 0.35 MHz) by the OGO-5 spacecraft are compared with > 45 keV solar electron events observed near 1 AU by the IMP-5 and Explorer 35 spacecraft for the period March 1968–November 1969.Fifty-six distinct type III bursts extending to 0.35 MHz ( 50 R equivalent height above the photosphere) were observed above the threshold of the OGO-5 detector; all but two were associated with solar flares. Twenty-six of the bursts were followed 40 min later by > 45 keV solar electron events observed at 1 AU. All of these 26 bursts were identified with flares located west of W 09 solar longitude. Of the bursts not associated with electron events only three were identified with flares west of W 09, 18 were located east of W 09 and 7 occurred during times when electron events would be obscured by high background particle fluxes.Thus almost all type III bursts from the western half of the solar disk observed by OGO-5 above a detection flux density threshold of the order of 10^–13 Wm^–2 Hz^–1 at 0.35 MHz are followed by > 45 keV electrons at 1 AU with a maximum flux of 10 cm^–2 s^–1 ster^–1. If particle propagation effects are taken into account it is possible to account for lack of electron events with the type III bursts from flares east of the central meridian. We conclude that streams of 10–100 keV electrons are the exciting agent for type III bursts and that these same electrons escape into the interplanetary medium where they are observed at 1 AU. The total number of > 45 keV electrons emitted in association with a strong kilometer wavelength type III burst is estimated to be 5 × 10³².     

The Source Regions of Impulsive Solar Electron Events

Low-energy (2–19 keV) impulsive electron events observed in interplanetary space have been traced back to the Sun, using their interplanetary type III radiation and metric/decimetric radio-spectrograms. For the first time we are able to study the highest frequencies and thus the radio signatures closest to the source region. All the selected impulsive solar electron events have been found to be associated with an interplanetary type III burst. This allows to time the particle events at the 2 MHz plasma level and identify the associated coronal radio emissions. Except for 5 out of 27 cases, the electron events were found to be associated with a coronal type III burst in the metric wavelength range. The start frequency yields a lower limit to the density in the acceleration region. We also search for narrow-band spikes at the start of the type III bursts. In about half of the observed cases we find metric spikes or enhancements of type I bursts associated with the start of the electron event. If interpreted as the plasma emission of the acceleration process, the observed average frequency of spikes suggests a source density of the order of 3×10⁸ cm^–3 consistent with the energy cut-off observed.     

Spectral peculiarities of strong solar bursts

We have investigated spectral features of strong radio burst emission for the 21st cycle of solar activity. The maximum daily radio fluxes in 8 frequency ranges are analyzed. For every year, the classification of these daily spectra is obtained by the cluster analysis method.We have shown that strong bursts are characterized by the stable shape of the mean radio emission spectra. For these bursts the total level of radio emission does not depend on the phase of the solar 11-yr cycle and varies with the quasi-period of 4 yr.The basic features of burst spectra can be explained by the gyrosynchrotron radiation of nonthermal electrons and plasma radiation at the second harmonic of plasma frequency. We supposed that in the generation region of centimetric emission, if the strength of the magnetic field B 100 G, the number of microbursts can amount to (6–7) × 10³. In the generation region of decimetric emission, the energy of Langmuir waves changes as W _l n _e ^0.4.     

Propagation of interplanetary shock waves by observations of type II solar radio bursts on IMP-6

A new interpretation of the low frequency type II solar radio bursts of 30 June 1971, and 7–8 August 1972 observed with IMP-6 satellite (Malitson et al., 1973a,b) is suggested. The analysis is carried out for two models of the electron density distribution in the interplanetary medium taking into account that N ~ 3.5 cm^?3 at a distance of 1 a.u. It is assumed that the frequency of the radio emission corresponds to the average electron density behind the shock front which exceeds the undisturbed electron density by the factor of 3. The radio data indicate essential deceleration of the shock waves during propagation from the Sun up to 1 a.u. The characteristics of the shock waves obtained from the type II bursts agree with the results of the in situ observations.     

The brightness temperatures of solar type III bursts

There is a characteristic maximum brightness temperature T _B 10¹⁵K for type III solar radio bursts in the solar wind. The suggestion is explored that the maximum observed values of T _Bmay be attributed to saturation of the processes involved in the plasma emission. The processes leading to fundamental and second harmonic emission saturate when T _Bis approximately equal to the effective temperature T _Lof the Langmuir waves. The expected maximum value of T _Bis estimated for this saturation model in two ways: from the growth rate for the beam instability, and from the maximum amplitude of the observed Langmuir turbulence. The agreement with the observed values is satisfactory in view of the uncertainties in the estimates (a) of the intrinsic brightness temperature from the observed brightness temperature, (b) of the actual growth rate of the beam instability, which must be driven by local, transient features (that are unobservable using available instruments) in the electron distribution, and (c) in the k-space volume filled by the Langmuir waves, and this is consistent with the observational data on two well-studied events at the orbit of the Earth and with statistical data for events over a range of radial distances from the Sun.     

Depolarization of solar bursts due to scattering by low-frequency waves

The possibility is explored that fundamental plasma emission in solar radio bursts of types I, II, and III is depolarized due to scattering off low-frequency waves. Three ways in which depolarization might occur are identified: (1) one or several large-angle scatters, (2) several small-angle scatters close to the plasma level, and (3) many small-angle scatters well above the plasma level. It is pointed out that the degree p of polarization (p = 1 initially) may be approximated by p() = cos after one large-angle scatter through an angle , and that for backscatter ( > /2) the sense of polarization changes (from o-mode to x-mode senses). Possibility (2) involves coupling between the o- and x-mode components through their longitudinal parts, and is explored in some detail. The wave vectors k required for the scatterings are identified, and it is suggested that ion-sound waves are suitable for possibility (1) and whistlers for possibility (2). The whistlers may be generated by the streaming electrons themselves.Large-angle scattering is favourable for depolarizing type I emission, as proposed by Wentzel, Zlobec, and Messerotti (1986). Scattering by whistlers near the plasma level is favourable for depolarizing type III bursts. Several predictions are made based on these possibilities.     

Coronal and Interplanetary Structures Associated with Type III Bursts

This paper pursues former studies of the coronal structures that are associated with radio type III bursts by taking advantage of the new capabilities of STEREO/SECCHI. The data analysis has been performed for 02 and 03 June 2007. During these two days several type III bursts, which were detected in the corona and in the interplanetary medium, occurred during the observing time of the Nançay radioheliograph. Electron beams accelerated in the same active region and producing type III emissions almost at the same time, can propagate in different well defined coronal structures below 15 R_⊙. Then, these structures become imbedded in the same plasma sheet which can be tracked up to 0.25 AU. Inhomogeneities travel along these structures; their velocities measured between 15 and 35 R_⊙ are typical of those of a slow solar wind. Comparison with PFSS magnetic field extrapolation shows that its connection with the IP magnetic field is different from what is suggested by the present observations. These results are consistent with those obtained in the IP medium formerly by Buttighoffer (Astron. Astrophys. 335, 295, 1998) who identified by in situ measurements at 1 AU and beyond, the sites where Langmuir waves, associated with local type III emissions, are excited.