基于PSP观测的行星际Ⅲ型射电爆发的研究进展

与太阳射电爆发相比,通常认为频率较低的行星际射电爆发产生于远离低日冕的行星际空间.地球电离层的截止导致地基设备无法对其进行观测.美国国家航空航天局(National Aeronautics and Space Administration, NASA)发射的帕克太阳探测器(Parker Solar Probe, PSP)是迄今为止距离太阳最近的空间探测器.其搭载的射电频谱仪能够对10 k Hz–19.17 MHz频段范围内的射电辐射进行观测. PSP能够靠近甚至可能穿越行星际III型射电爆发的辐射源区,因此使用PSP对行星际射电爆发进行观测具有前所未有的优势.简要介绍了目前为止使用PSP的射电观测数据对行星际III型射电爆发的多方面研究,包括爆发的发生率、偏振、散射、截止频率、可能的辐射机制和相关的辐射源区等方面的研究进展,并讨论了其未来的研究前景.     

On the characteristics of the solar active regions responsible for the generation of type III radio bursts at hectometric frequencies in August 1968

The RAE (Radio Astronomy Explorer) satellite observed enormous numbers of type III radio bursts at hectometric wavelengths from 13 to 25 August in 1968. The drift rate of these bursts reached a maximum around the middle of 20 August. This means that the source responsible for these bursts gradually moved on the solar disk in association with the rotation of the sun. During this period, there were two large active sunspot groups, MacMath Nos. 9593 and 9597, which were located in the southern hemisphere and adjacent to each other. By examining the observational data on solar flares, type I noise storm activity and energetic electron flux increases, it is shown that the active region, MacMath No. 9597 is responsible for the generation of these type III radio bursts. The relation between type III bursts producing electron beams and type I noise activity is briefly discussed and a model of this active region is qualitatively described.NAS-NRC Associate with NASA.     

Characteristics of shock-associated fast-drift kilometric radio bursts

The existence of a class of fast-drift, shock-associated (SA), kilometric radio bursts which occur at the time of metric type II emission and which are not entirely the kilometric continuation of metric type III bursts has been reported previously (Cane et al., 1981). In this paper, we establish unambiguous SA event criteria for the purpose of statistically comparing SA events with conventional kilometric type III bursts. We apply these criteria to all long-duration, fast-drift bursts observed by the ISEE-3 spacecraft during a 28-month interval and find that more than 70% of the events satisfying the criteria are associated with the radio signatures of coronal shocks. If a given event in our sample is associated with a metric type II or type IV burst, it is 13 times more likely to satisfy the SA criteria than an event associated only with metric type III activity. Compared with conventional kilometric type III bursts, the characteristics of these SA events are longer duration, higher maximum intensity, and a larger number of components. Differences in these characteristics for the two classes of events are not sufficient to distinguish all SA events from conventional type III bursts. The consistent lack of reported metric type III activity during the latter part of the candidate events suggests that some of the electrons are accelerated high in the corona, at or near the altitude of the shock.     

The coronal disturbance of 1972, August 12

Using the observed data for metric and hectometric type III radio bursts, the dependence of burst characteristics on the solar longitude has been examined over a wide frequency range. It is found that there exists an east-west asymmetry for the extension of metric type III bursts into hectometric wavelength range. In particular, hectometric bursts are rarely observed for solar flares associated with metric bursts eastward solar longitude 60°E. Furthermore, for eastern longitudes, the low frequency radio observations show a large dispersion in drift time interval.     

Temporal Correlation of Hard X-Rays and Meter/Decimeter Radio Structures in Solar Flares

We investigate the relative timing between hard X-ray (HXR) peaks and structures in metric and decimetric radio emissions of solar flares using data from the RHESSI and Phoenix-2 instruments. The radio events under consideration are predominantly classified as type III bursts, decimetric pulsations and patches. The RHESSI data are demodulated using special techniques appropriate for a Phoenix-2 temporal resolution of 0.1 s. The absolute timing accuracy of the two instruments is found to be about 170 ms, and much better on the average. It is found that type III radio groups often coincide with enhanced HXR emission, but only a relatively small fraction (∼20%) of the groups show close correlation on time scales < 1 s. If structures correlate, the HXRs precede the type III emissions in a majority of cases, and by 0.69 ± 0.19 s on the average. Reversed drift type III bursts are also delayed, but high-frequency and harmonic emission is retarded less. The decimetric pulsations and patches (DCIM) have a larger scatter of delays, but do not have a statistically significant sign or an average different from zero. The time delay does not show a center-to-limb variation excluding simple propagation effects. The delay by scattering near the source region is suggested to be the most efficient process on the average for delaying type III radio emission.     

Non-radial magnetic field structures in the solar corona

We report on the structure and geometry of coronal magnetic fields inferred from the observations of meter-decimeter type III and moving type IV radio bursts, associated with a Hα flare. This is the first report of type III radio bursts from the Nançay radioheliograph after it acquired the two-dimensional multifrequency capability. Dispersion of the radio source positions with frequency suggests that open and closed field lines are considerably inclined to the radial direction which is consistent with the connectivity observed in the magnetogram. We suggest that multiple arch systems are involved in the type IV emission. From the polarization and dispersion characteristics of the type IV source, we infer that the emission is due to fundamental plasma emission.     

微波Ⅲ型爆发的观测特征

统计分析了国家天文台2．6-3．8 GHz高时间分辨率射电动态频谱仪在23周峰年期间(1998．4—2003．1)观测到的266个III型爆发．对这些事件的频率漂移、持续时间、偏振、带宽、开始和结束频率做了详细分析．开始和结束频率的统计分析表明,开始频率在一个非常大的范围,从小于2．6 GHz到大于3．8 GHz,而结束频率的截止区相对集中,从2．82-3．76 G．Hz．这些现象说明,电子加速的高度相当分散,在观测频率范围内具有正、负漂移率的III型爆发数基本相等,这可能意味着被加速的向上和向下传播的电子束在2．6—3．8 GHz范围有相同的比例．统计结果表明,微波III型爆发的辐射机制主要是等离子体辐射和电子回旋脉泽辐射过程．     

A metric type III burst asymmetry relative to simple bipolar active regions

Metric type III solar radio burst positions are compared spatially and temporally to underlying active region geometry. The positions of these radio bursts have an asymmetric location distribution relative to simple bipolar regions. The type III bursts show a tendency to occur nearer the leading active region - an association shown before from type III burst and magnetic field polarity measurements. The type III bursts also generally occur to the left of the outward to inward directed magnetic field. The asymmetry relative to the outward directed magnetic field has a sense that is consistent with a mechanism of type III burst production that involves a pre-existing coronal current system situated between expanding closed and open magnetic field lines.     

A new method for reconstructing type III trajectories

A local density approximation (LDA) method is developed for reconstructing the trajectories of type III radio bursts through the interplanetary medium. The method uses the measured source directions and the measured frequency drift rates of the type III burst to determine the locations of the radio source in the interplanetary medium at consecutive frequency levels. The technique is used to reconstruct the trajectory of an actual type III burst and the results are compared to the trajectory obtained from the global density law method. The LDA method represents an improvement in that it utilizes more observed data on the type III burst and that it takes full account of the local density variations at the source locations.     

太阳微波低频段射电III型爆发的一些特性分析

本文介绍了云南天文台四波段（１．４２,２．１３,２．８４和４．２６ＧＨｚ）太阳射电高时间分辩率同步观测得到的五个微波ＩＩ型爆发事件,它们具有宽频带、长和短寿命、内向和外向快速频漂等特征．观测事例表明,非热电子束引起的等离子体辐射和电子回旋脉泽辐射两种机制都可能发生．这些观测特征既不完全同于米波—分米波ＩＩ型爆发,也不完全同于微波高频段ＩＩ型爆发,说明在微波低频段可能存在二重性或过渡现象     

Correlation of hard X-ray and type III bursts in solar flares

The observed correlations between X-ray and type III radio emissions from solar bursts are described by means of a bivariate distribution function. Procedures for determining the form of this distribution are described using a sample of data analyzed by Kane (1981). With the help of this distribution a model is constructed to explain the correlation between the X-ray spectral index and the ratio of X-ray to radio intensities. Implications of the model are discussed.     

Polarization measurements of solar type III radio bursts at 25.3 MHz

We report the results of 1966, 1968, and 1969 polarization measurements of solar type III radio noise bursts made by recording the output of two orthogonally polarized receiving channels and subsequent digital processing of selected data. The processed data yield total intensity, degree of polarization, ellipticity, and polarization ellipse orientation at 1 second intervals. The measurements are made in a 100 Hz bandwith to minimize the influence of the propagating medium on the measurements. The mean degree of polarization was found to be about 65% in contrast to previous studies which indicated that type III events were more weakly polarized. By assuming that type III bursts are flare related we study the polarization characteristics of type III bursts as a function of the solar longitude of the related flares. The relation between type III event polarization characteristics and flare importance is also investigated. The significance of polarization measurements in studies of solar radio events is pointed out and suggestions for further theoretical research are given.     

On the source conditions for herringbone structure in type II solar radio bursts

We investigate the correlation of the occurrence of the herringbone phenomenon in type II solar radio bursts with various flare properties. We show that herringbone is strongly correlated with the intensity of the type II burst: whereas about 21% of all type II bursts show herringbone, about 60% of the most intense bursts contain herringbone. This fact can explain most of the correlations between herringbone and other properties such as intense type III bursts, type IV emission, and high type II starting frequencies. We also show that when this is taken into account, there is no need to postulate two classes of type II burst in order to explain why there appears to be a difference in herringbone occurrence between the set of type II bursts associated with the leading edges of coronal mass ejections, and those not so associated. We argue that the data are consistent with the idea that all coronal type II bursts are due to blast waves from flares.     

Solar radio type III bursts and coronal density structures

The comparison of solar radio type III bursts measured at 169 MHz with K corona observations leads to the conclusion that about 75% of the active regions over which type III bursts occur are associated with low density coronal structures. The comparison with X-ray maps of the solar disk shows that all these regions are located in low intensity regions.It is concluded that the idea generally accepted that the type III bursts are associated with dense coronal structures and travel in these structures is not at all proven for a large number of cases.     

Hard X-rays and associated weak decimetric bursts

In previous attempts to show one-to-one correlation between type III bursts and X-ray spikes, there have been ambiguities as to which of several X-ray spikes are correlated with any given type III burst. Here, we present observations that show clear associations of X-ray bursts with RS type III bursts between 16:46 UT and 16:52 UT on July 9, 1985. The hard X-ray observations were made at energies above 25 keV with HXRBS on SMM and the radio observations were made at 1.63 GHz using the 13.7m Itapetinga antenna in R and L polarization with a time resolution of 3 ms. Detailed comparison between the hard X-ray and radio observations shows:

1. In at least 13 cases we can identify the associated hard X-ray and decimetric RS bursts.
2. On average, the X-ray peaks were delayed from the peak of the RS bursts at 1.6 GHz by ～ 400 ms although a delay as long as 1 s was observed in one case.

One possible explanation of the long delays between the RS bursts and the associated X-ray bursts is that the RS burst is produced at the leading edge of the electron beam, whereas the X-ray burst peaks at the time of arrival of the bulk of the electrons at the high density region at the lower corona and upper chromosphere. Thus, the time comparison must be made between the peak of the radio pulse and the start of the X-ray burst. In that case the delays are consistent with an electron travel time with velocity ～ 0.3 c from the 800 MHz plasma level to the lower corona assuming that the radio emission is at the second harmonic.     

Statistical Analysis of Decimetric Type III Bursts

Detailed statistics and analysis of 264 type III bursts observed with the 625–1500 MHz spectrograph during the 23rd solar cycle (from July 2000 to April 2003) are carried out in the present article. The main statistical results are similar to those of microwave type III bursts presented in the literature cited, such as the correlation between type III bursts and flares, polarization, duration, frequency drift rate (normal and reverse slopes), distribution of type III bursts and frequency bandwidth. At the same time, the statistical results also point out that the average values of the frequency drift rates and degrees of polarization increase with the increase in frequency and the average value of duration decreases with the increase in frequency. Other statistical results show that the starting frequencies of the type III bursts are mainly within the range from 650 to 800 MHz, and most type III bursts have an average bandwidth of 289 MHz. The distributions imply that the electron acceleration and the place of energy release are within a limited decimetric range. The characteristics of the narrow bandwidth possibly involve the magnetic configuration at decimetric wavelengths, the location of electron acceleration in the magnetic field nearto the main flare, the relevant runaway or trapped electrons, or the coherent radio emission produced by some secondary shock waves. In addition, the number of type III bursts with positive frequency drift rates is almost equal to that with negative frequency drift rates. This is probably explained by the hypothesis that an equal number of electron beams are accelerated upwards and downwards within the range of 625 to 1500 MHz. The radiation mechanism of type III bursts at decimetric wavelengths probably includes these microwave and metric mechanisms and the most likely cause of the coherent plasma radiation are the emission processes of the electron cyclotron maser.     

Fundamental and Harmonic Emission in Type III Solar Radio Bursts – II. Dominant Modes and Dynamic Spectra

Recent theoretical estimates of the emissivity of fundamental and harmonic radiation in type III solar radio bursts are combined with calculations of electron beam evolution, radiation scattering and propagation delays to estimate dynamic spectra at a remote observer. The burst intensity, brightness temperature, temporal evolution, and dominant mode of emission are then calculated. A simple explanation of the recently observed low-frequency cutoff to type III emission is found and it is noted that some type III beams may propagate without significant radio emission. Criteria for observation of harmonic structure in dynamic spectra are also obtained. The results are shown to be consistent with a wide range of observations.     

Evidence for a common origin of the electrons responsible for the impulsive X-ray and type III radio bursts

Observations of impulsive solar flare X-rays 10 keV made with the OGO-5 satellite are compared with ground based measurements of type III solar radio bursts in 10–580 MHz range. It is shown that the times of maxima of these two emissions, when detectable, agree within 18 s. This maximum time difference is comparable to that between the maxima of the impulsive X-ray and impulsive microwave bursts. In view of the various observational uncertainties, it is argued that the observations are consistent with the impulsive X-ray, impulsive microwave, and type III radio bursts being essentially simultaneous. The observations are also consistent with 10–100 keV electron streams being responsible for the type III emission. It is estimated that the total number of electrons 22 keV required to produce a type III burst is 10³⁴. The observations indicate that the non-thermal electron groups responsible for the impulsive X-ray, impulsive microwave, and type III radio bursts are accelerated simultaneously in essentially the same region of the solar atmosphere.     

Harmonic structure of type IIIb and III bursts

A decameter solar radio storm of type IIIb and III bursts has been analysed, using single frequency records at frequencies 12.5 and 25.0 MHz.Several kinds of burst associations are classified. As a result it is shown that in double oblique burst-traces of type IIIb + III on the frequency-time plane the type III burst is shifted by an octave above the type IIIb burst at any moment of the IIIb + III pair's lifetime. In particular, the harmonic structure of the spectrum is peculiar to the event of type IIIb + III in the initial and the final stages. This property of the pair is clear if the type IIIb and III radiations occur at the fundamental coronal plasma frequency and its harmonic respectively. On the other hand, if it is assumed that a type IIIb burst is the precursor of a type III one, there is no reason why the two bursts should be harmonically related.     

Type III solar radio bursts and the fundamental-harmonic hypothesis

The observational evidence is reviewed for the occurrence of type III solar radio bursts in pairs with frequency ratio two to one. We show that the observations can be explained under the hypothesis that there is a tendency for a type III burst to be followed by a second burst within approximately one second. This explanation leads to fewer difficulties than the hypothesis that type III bursts occur in pairs, one member being emitted at the fundamental of the local coronal plasma frequency, the other at its second harmonic. We conclude that in general, type III bursts are emitted at the second harmonic of the plasma frequency and that type III theories should account for this and only under very special circumstances (which are rare) for the emission at the fundamental and the second harmonic.