Polarization features of type IV bursts

Using both the polarization records of our institute at seven different frequencies and polarization records from other stations, the spectral diagrams of some important type IV bursts are completed by polarization diagrams. Combining both types of diagrams and adding the results of optical observations and X-ray data it is possible to come to a deeper understanding of the processes taking place during strong solar radio bursts.     

Pulsating type IV solar radio bursts

Several models for pulsating type IV radio bursts are presented based on the assumption that the pulsations are the result of fluctuations in the synchrotron emission due to small variations in the magnetic field of the source. It is shown that a source that is optically thick at low frequencies due to synchrotron self-absorption exhibits pulsations that occur in two bands situated on either side of the spectral peak. The pulsations in the two bands are 180° out of phase and the band of pulsations at the higher frequencies is the more intense. In contrast, a synchrotron source that is optically thin at all frequencies and whose low frequency emission is suppressed due to the Razin effect develops only a single band of pulsations around the frequency of maximum emission. However, the flux density associated with the later model would be too small to explain the more intense pulsations that have been observed unless the source area is considerably larger than presently seems reasonable.     

Decameter type IV bursts associated with coronal transients

Recent observations of neutral line absorbing features in the solar atmosphere may give an important clue to the mechanism whereby both type III solar radiobursts and solar flares are triggered. It is suggested that as new satellite magnetic flux emerges at the edge of an active region in an area of opposite polarity a neutral sheet builds up between the new and old flux. When the sheet has a length of about a megametre its thermal insulation from the surrounding plasma is effective enough for a thermal instability to occur. The resulting compression and inflow of plasma is observed in H on the disc as a neutral line absorbing feature. Furthermore, the electric field of the accompanying collisionless tearing mode instability in a thin slab near the centre of the sheet exceeds the runaway field; it may therefore accelerate electrons to high enough energies to produce the type III burst which usually occurs at the same time as the absorbing feature. Perhaps the flare which sometimes ensues is triggered when the quasi-equilibrium state is destroyed by the development of turbulence in the neutral sheet.     

Observations and interpretation of moving type IV solar radio bursts

Properties of 23 moving type IV bursts observed with the Culgoora Radioheliograph are summarized. Both shock and plasmoid models are examined. It is found that the theories invoking shocks have limited application and that plasmoid models have several problems with regard to plasmoid formation as well as with explanations for multiple sources and large values of circular polarization. While the synchrotron radiation mechanism is the most widely accepted for both shock and plasmoid models, it is possible that Langmuir wave emission processes may be important, at least in some events. To overcome some of the difficulties of the plasmoid theory, a new source model is proposed. This model involves synchrotron radiation from electror ; confined by rapid scattering through hydromagnetic wave particle interactions.Operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc. under contract AST-74-04129 with the National Science Foundation.     

Nonlinear wave coupling in type IV solar radio bursts

In order to explain a fine structure of parallel ridges in stationary type IV continua, the emission due to the coupling of electrostatic upper hybrid waves and Bernstein waves at the sum frequency of the upper hybrid and harmonics of the gyro frequency has been calculated. If the energy density of these electrostatic waves is of the order of 10^-3 times the thermal energy density, then the observed zebra pattern can be emitted by a region with a diameter of 10³ km.     

Interplanetary phenomena and solar radio bursts

The relationship between solar radio emissions and transient interplanetary phenomena is reviewed. It is believed that the most significant advance in recent years has come from coordinated studies of coronal mass ejections and moving type IV bursts, where the evidence appears to favour the Langmuir wave hypothesis as the emission mechanism. Type II bursts are not generally a signature of the main energetic particle acceleration in flares. They do, however, occasionally propagate to 1 AU, and beyond, where they are normally accompanied by protons in the 20 MeV region. Apart from the impulsive microwave burst, there is no reliable radio signature associated with energetic particle acceleration in flares, although many phenomena have high correlations with radio emissions. The exceptions suggest that such correlations may be incidental. Therefore, it is concluded that attention should also be given to events with a positive absence of radio emission in order to make progress in understanding solar processes.Proceedings of the Workshop on Radio Continua during Solar Flares, held at Duino (Trieste), Italy, 27–31 May, 1985.     

A coherent radiation mechanism for type IV dm radio bursts

An interpretation is presented of the decimetric type IV continuum with fine structure on March 6, 1972 and of the corresponding source region, in terms of ?erenkov plasma radiation and alternatively of synchrotron radiation, both in case of coherent and incoherent generation. If the magnetic field strength in the source region is a few gauss, in a stationary situation a loss cone instability develops which generates electron plasma waves coherently. The amount of energetic electrons required for consecutive induced scattering of the plasma waves at the thermal ions into electromagnetic waves is less than in case of synchrotron radiation. It is concluded that the former mechanism provides the explanation of type IV continua with fine structure such as intermediate drift bursts and sudden reductions of the continuum level.     

A coherent radiation mechanism for type IV solar radio bursts

A new coherent radiation mechanism, involving nonlinear interaction of whistler solitons with upperhybrid waves, excited by energetic electrons of energies of 10 keV–100 keV, is proposed for type IV solar bursts of both moving (type IV M) and stationary (type IV S) types. We show that the type IV M bursts occur when the interaction of whistler solitons and upperhybrid waves takes place in the coronal transients whereas the type IV S bursts originate provided this interaction takes place in stationary loops where density has been increased. The emitted radiation is right-hand circularly polarized with 100% polarization. Increase of brightness temperature, T _b , at lower frequencies and also its decrease, at all frequencies, with the passage of time is predicted for type IV M bursts; this agrees fully with the observations. Furthermore, the decrease of T _b , with time for stationary type IV component, is easily explained if the source which supplies energetic electron to the loop, becomes weaker with time.     

The heating of the solar plasma due to microwave phenomena correlated with type II meter bursts

The heating of the solar plasma of those layers is considered where the microwave bursts are emitted. In a first step, we restrict ourselves to phenomena correlated with the so-called type II m bursts. Bursts of this kind are excited by shock-waves initiated near the optical flare region. These shock-waves spread out into the higher corona, and if the shock strength is sufficiently high, the microwave region is heated to 10⁷ K. But this temperature is too low to explain the burst radiation. In this paper, it is shown that at plasma temperatures about 10⁷ K a fairly high number of electrons is accelerated by Alfvén waves to equivalent kinetic temperatures of about 10⁸ K. We assume that the Alfvén waves are generated near the sunspots, and, therefore, the accelerated electrons run along the magnetic-field lines into the microwave source lying between the two spots of an assumed dipole field. Within this source, the considered electrons thermalize and, after a short time, the source reaches temperatures of 5 × 10⁷ K to 10⁸ K.A plasma of this temperature with an electron density about 5 × 10⁹ cm^–3 and a magnetic induction of 300 G is optically thick even at frequencies about 10 GHz, because the gyromagnetic absorption is very high.     

Spectral distributions of microwave bursts

The lack of open literature publication of the distributional properties of the cm-λ spectra of solar microwave bursts has lead to some erroneous concepts of the typical characteristics of these spectra. To provide more accurate information, this paper sets forth various distributions of the peak flux density spectra of large numbers of bursts, based on observations of the Sagamore Hill Radio Observatory at nine discrete frequencies between 245 and 35000 MHz over the years 1968–1971. As a foundation for the distribution studies, the basic spectral classification system is outlined. The majority of burst spectra were found to contain a cm-λ component having a single spectral maximum in the 1400 to 35000 MHz range; such spectra are designated C type. A study of the correlation of the spectral maximum frequency f _max of the cm component and the photospheric magnetic field strength of the associated region shows a tendency for greater correlation at higher f _max for stronger magnetic sssfields. A study of the correlation for C type spectra between f _max and the quasi-cutoff frequency f _qc on the low-frequency side shows that for bursts of moderate peak flux density (50–500 sfu) f _qc is well correlated with f _max; a good fit to the relation f _max=A f _qc is found with A =3.4. The possible attenuating mechanisms responsible for the spectral shaping of the cm component are discussed.     

Solar cycle distribution of strong solar proton events and the related solar-terrestrial phenomena

We investigated the solar cycle distribution of strong solar proton events (SPEs, peak flux ≥1000 pfu) and the solar-terrestrial phenomena associated with the strong SPEs during solar cycles 21–23. The results show that 37 strong SPEs were registered over this period of time, where 20 strong SPEs were originated from the super active regions (SARs) and 28 strong SPEs were accompanied by the X-class flares. Most strong SPEs were not associated with the ground level enhancement (GLE) event. Most strong SPEs occurred in the descending phases of the solar cycles. The weaker the solar cycle, the higher the proportion of strong SPES occurred in the descending phase of the cycle. The number of the strong SPEs that occurred within a solar cycle is poorly associated with the solar cycle size. The intensity of the SPEs is highly dependent of the location of their source regions, with the super SPEs (≥20000 pfu) distributed around solar disk center. A super SPE was always accompanied by a fast shock driven by the associated coronal mass ejection and a great geomagnetic storm. The source location of strongest GLE event is distributed in the well-connected region. The SPEs associated with super GLE events (peak increase rate ≥100%) which have their peak flux much lower than 10000 pfu were not accompanied by an intense geomagnetic storm.     

The initial stage of development of type IV radio bursts and the relation to expanding magnetic bottles

Using the observed data for wide-band type IV solar radio bursts, the onset time differences between the microwave and metric frequencies and the peak flux intensities of the metric component are analyzed as a function of the longitudinal position of the associated flares on the solar disk. It is shown that this time difference is dependent on the position of the associated flare and that the peak flux intensity reaches maximum when a flare occurs in the region 10 to 40 ° west of the central meridian of the solar disk. These results are explained by taking into account the eastward expansion of magnetic bottles which trap mildly relativistic electrons responsible for type IV bursts. Discussion is given on the relation between these magnetic bottles and shock waves which excite type II radio bursts.NASA Associate with University of Maryland, Astronomy Program.     

Beat structure in pulsating type IV solar radio bursts and a possible mechanism

Pulsating type IV solar radio bursts with beat structure are presented and analysed in this paper. Based upon the theory of whistler soliton emission we interpret the beat structure by the combination of two components with different pulsation frequencies due to radial oscillations of two legs of the magnetic loop. The large depth of pulsation is also explained in this model.Proceedings if the Second CESRA Workshop on Particle Acceleration and Trapping in Solar Flares, held at Aubigny-sur-Nère (France), 23–26 June, 1986.On leave from the Department of Astronomy, Nanjing University, Nanjing, The People's Republic of China.     

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 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.     

Spectral behaviour and proton effects of the type IV broad-band continua

The spectral behaviour of a group of broad-band continua at metre and decametre waves is discussed. These broad-band continua are polarized in the extraordinary mode and occur during the explosive phase of some strong flares. The time behaviour of the broad-band continua and of the moving type IV bursts was already compared in a previous paper (Böhme, 1972). It is pointed out in the present paper that the broad-band continua differ from the moving type IV bursts not only regarding their time behaviour but also with reference to some spectral characteristics. Moreover, the broad-band continua differ from the moving type IV bursts by their close relation to proton events. It can be concluded that the high-energy protons are accelerated in different steps. An important secondary acceleration mechanism acts above the emission level of the type IV bursts.     

A model for the coherent emission of solar radio moving type IV bursts

A theoretical model is proposed for interpreting the coherent emissionmechanism of solar radio moving type IV bursts. Energetic electrons produced in flares captured by an expanding and rising magnetic flux tube exhibit a beam-like distribution of velocities on the top of the flux tube. These excite beaming plasma instability and directly amplifies O-mode electromagnetic waves. The instability growth rate sensitively depends on the coronal plasma parameter, ƒ_pe/ƒ_ce and the beam-temperature T_b. This can qualitatively explain the high brightness temperature and high degree of polarization as well as the broad spectrum observed in this type of solar radio bursts.     

A statistical study of moving type IV bursts based on Culgoora radioheliograph observations

Thirty-one moving type IV (IV(M)) bursts recorded with the Culgoora radioheliograph are examined to deduce their characteristic features, such as spatial distribution, projected velocity, etc., and their relation to other phenomena. The distribution of the projected velocity suggests that less than 15% of the total IV(M) bursts have fast velocities (>1000 km s^–1), almost equal to MHD shock velocity, and that the remaining IV(M) bursts have slower velocities (400 km s^–1) and are probably not associated with MHD shock waves. Most of the slow IV(M) bursts (and 70% of the total IV(M) bursts) are of an isolated plasmoid type. Even if they are associated with minor H flares, IV(M) bursts of the isolated-plasmoid type have 10³¹ ergs in the form of magnetic energy. They are in many cases closely associated with extended flare-continuum sources; this seems plausible if the flare continuum is interpreted as an interaction of a plasmoid with a large-scale magnetic arch.The association of IV(M) bursts with energetic proton events seems to be poor - contrary to expectation.     

Relation between circular polarization of moving type IV bursts and polarity of photospheric magnetic fields

Two-dimensional, high-resolution observations of about 30 moving type IV bursts allow us to compare the polarization structure of the radio sources high in the corona with the distribution of magnetic fields measured at the photospheric level. Left- and right-handed circularly polarized moving type IV bursts are associated with active regions dominated by magnetic fields of plus and minus polarity respectively. The result suggests that the polarity of magnetic fields within the type IV source which moves high in the corona ( 1R above the photosphere) is closely related to the polarity of local magnetic fields at the photosphere. The above relation between the sense of polarization and the polarity of magnetic field is contrary to what would be expected from the generally accepted synchroton hypothesis. One way of resolving this conflict is to postulate that the magnetic field within the radio source has the opposite polarity to that of the ambient magnetic fields.