A predictive model for space-based X-ray ccd degradation

The first generation of X-ray telescopes to use Charge-Coupled Devices (CCDs) is being launched this decade. With a read noise of a few electrons, CCDs provide Fano-limited spectral resolution across the soft X-ray band (0.1 – 10 keV). However, degradation of resolution due to charge transfer losses becomes noticeable as Charge Transfer Inefficiency (CTI) increases to 10^–5. In this paper, we present a model which calculates the effects of radiation damage in low Earth orbit in order to predict CCD lifetimes over which good charge transfer is maintained. The model presented here considers damage mechanisms within the CCD, environmental conditions in which the CCD operates, and experiment shielding. We find that the predicted CTI approaches 10^–5 after a one to two year mission for the flight instruments considered here.     

Polarization structure of a solar flare region at 9.5 mm wavelength

Polarization structure of an active region that produced a minor flare around 1900 UT on September 28, 1971 was measured at 9.5 mm wavelength using the 85-ft telescope of the Naval Research Laboratory Maryland Point Observatory. The angular resolution of the telescope at this wavelength is 1.6. The flare region underwent changes both in the degree of polarization as well as in its polarization structure before and after the start of the flare. These changes in the degree of polarization correspond to a decrease of longitudinal magnetic field of about 200 G at the chromospheric levels where the 9.5 mm radiation originates. Observations on the polarization structure of active regions for several days before and after September, 1971 are also presented.     

Analysis of 2-d flare spectra: Velocity fields derived from Hα line asymmetries

We derive a time series of two-dimensional velocity fields for a flare region on 1992 December 16, based on the asymmetries of the H line. The H spectra were obtained by an imaging spectrograph at the Solar Tower Telescope of Nanjing University. Four sites with evident chromospheric downflows are found to appear and decay consecutively in the studied region. The value of maximum velocities is 30–40 km s^–1 and the lifetime of downflows is 2–3 min at these sites. It is also shown that the asymmetries only exist at the line wing, while the line center has nearly no shifts for this flare. Finally, we make a discussion on the characteristics of the velocity distribution and its correlations with the intensity distribution, as well as with the hard X-ray emission.     

FLARE MULTI-LINE 2D-SPECTROSCOPY

A small flare was observed at the Teide Observatory on October 5, 1994. Simultaneous data were obtained at the German Vacuum Tower Telescope (VTT) with the MSDP spectrograph providing high-resolution imaging spectroscopy in two chromospheric lines, and the Gregory Coudé Telescope (GCT) providing information about the magnetic field. Basic flare characteristics are:The area of the flare kernel ( 2 x 2 arc sec) is similar in H and Caii 8542 Å.The early phase of the flare is characterized by a blue asymmetry in H and a red one in Caii 8542 Å line.The evolutions of line profiles are different; the red asymmetry observed in the Caii line is detected a few seconds later in H.The maximum asymmetry of the Caii line does not coincide with the maximum brightness.The flare occurs in a region of a strong horizontal gradient of the line-of-sight component of the magnetic field.Brightness and asymmetry in H and Caii are discussed in the context of standard flare models and velocity fields. Our observations suggest that a magnetic reconnection could occur at low levels of the solar atmosphere.     

Chromospheres of flare stars

The present paper contains an attempt to formulate a theory, based on fast electrons hypothesis, of the chromospheres of flare stars. At the same time we shall undertake a survey of observations on the emission lines of flare stars and comparisons with the theory. The general discussion in the introduction concerning the civilian right of fast electron hypothesis is followed by sections in which the following problems are tackled: the anatomy of the light curve of the flare in UV Cet-type stars or its division into two components; the sources of radiation, ionizing hydrogen and other elements, and the estimation of their power in cold dwarf stars with emission lines; conditions for the excitation of emission lines in the chromospheres of those stars; the problem of duration of luminescence of flare stars in the emission lines (observations and theory); the electron temperature and electron concentration in the chromospheres of flare stars; the problem of the luminescence of emission lines in the quiescent star; the degree of ionization and the role of inelastic collisions of the electrons in the chromosphere of flare stars; the profiles of emission lines, their broadening and intensification during the flare; the dependence of the infensity of emission lines on the flare amplitude; the nature and peculiarities of two types of the Haro flares; the impact of radiation dilution and the spectral class of the star on the equivalent width of the emission lines; the possibility of exciting the forbidden lines; the problem of generation of the emission lines of neutral and ionized helium; the possibility of the Lyman-alpha emission in flare stars, the expected parameters of such emission — the radiation power, the equivalent width and profile of the Lyman-alpha line; the possibility of the presence of the strongest (after the -line) emission line — of doublet 2800 Mgii in the spectra of flare stars, the expected value of the intensity and equivalent width of that line.     

Flare positions relative to photospheric magnetic fields

Of 21 flares of importance 1 or greater, observed on 15 days, all were found to lie adjacent to a neutral line in the longitudinal component of photospheric magnetic fields. In most of these cases, the flare consisted of two or more segments separated by the neutral line and located in areas of strong field and high-longitudinal field gradient. In some cases, the flare segments extended into areas of weak-magnetic field and low-field gradient, but maintained an orientation adjacent to a neutral line.Optical and magnetic field records of higher resolution were obtained on 6 July 1965. These observations reveal an excellent correlation between the size, shape, and intensity of the H fine structures and the longitudinal component of the photospheric magnetic fields, except in the vicinity of the neutral line. Sections of the neutral line are marked by long fibrils lying perpendicular to the neutral line or by small filaments lying along the neutral line.The development of a flare of importance 1 in this region appeared to be more precisely related to the neutral line than was found for the flares and magnetic fields observed with lower resolution. The two major segments of this flare lengthened in directions approximately parallel to the neutral line, while simultaneously drifting perpendicularly away from the neutral line. The initial rate of drift systematically varied from 1 to 12 km/sec at a series of positions approximately parallel to the neutral line and corresponding to increasing distance from strong fields. The rate of drift was also observed to decelerate throughout the life of the flare.     

A solar flare X-ray polarimeter for the space shuttle

We have recently built and tested an instrument designed to measure the polarization of the hard (5–30 keV) X-ray emission from solar flares, and thereby to investigate the energy release mechanism and constrain flare models. In particular, these measurements will help to determine whether hard X-ray bursts are produced by nonthermal or by thermal electrons. The polarimeter makes use of the angular dependence of Thomson scattering from targets of metallic lithium. It has an energy resolution of a few keV, a time resolution of 5 s, and sufficient sensitivity to measure polarization levels (3) of a few percent in about 10 s for a moderate strength solar flare. The instrumental polarization has been directly measured and found to be within the design goal of 1%. This polarimeter is scheduled to be flown as part of the OSS-1 pallet on an early Space Shuttle mission.     

Solar flares in the extreme ultraviolet

Measurements of flare-related impulsive enhancements in solar emission lines in the extreme ultraviolet, observed from the satellite OSO-III, are reported. The enhancement of a line, expressed in percent of the total disk intensity in the line, is of the same order of magnitude as the flare area, expressed in heliocentric square degrees. Rise-times and decay-times of impulsive enhancements average about 2 min and 5 min, respectively. The maximum enhancements of radiation from ions in the chromosphere-corona transition region precede the H maximum by an average of 2 min, and occur in the same period of time as the hard component of solar X-rays and the impulsive microwave bursts. Coronal lines in the extreme ultraviolet are less impulsive than the transition region lines in flare-related enhancements and their maxima follow the H maximum.     

Hα red asymmetry of solar flares

The evolutional characteristics of the red asymmetry of H flare line profiles were studied by means of a quantitative analysis of H flare spectra obtained with the Domeless Solar Telescope at Hida Observatory. Red-shifted emission streaks of H line are found at the initial phase of almost all flares which occur near the disk center, and are considered to be substantial features of the red asymmetry. It is found that a downward motion in the flare chromospheric region is the cause of the red-shifted emission streak. The downward motion abruptly increases at the onset of a flare, attains its maximum velocity of about 40 to 100 km s^-1 shortly before the impulsive peak of the microwave burst, and rapidly decreases before the intensity of H line reaches its maximum. Referring to the numerical simulations made by Livshits et al. (1981) and Somov et al. (1982), we conclude that the conspicuous red-asymmetry or the red-shifted emission streak of H line is due to the downward motion of the compressed chromospheric flare region produced by the impulsive heating by energetic electron beam or thermal conduction.Contributions from the Kwasan and Hida Observatories, University of Kyoto, No. 258.     

EURD Data Processing

EURD (EspectrógrafoUltravioleta extremo para la Radiación Difusa) is one of thescientific instruments on board MINISAT 01. EURD is a spectrograph withvery high sensitivity and spectral resolution ( 5 Å), designed to obtain extremeultraviolet ( 350-1100 Å) spectra of diffuse radiation.We outline the processing of EURD data, and how we obtain informationfrom these data on the scientific goals of the mission: hot interstellarmedium, neutrino decay line, nightglow emission, and early-type stars.     

On the color of the 26 February 1981 white light flare

We describe visual observations of a white light flare which displayed a pink color in a part of the flare which covered a sunspot umbra. We then show that visible pink tint, if attributable to strong H emission, requires a minimum equivalent emission line width of approximately 140 A, or three times larger than in any flare previously measured. Such extreme line broadening might be interpreted to result from flare penetration to unusually high chromospheric densities ( 10¹⁴ cm^–3), or from anomalous Stark broadening due to turbulent electric fields in an unstable plasma (Spicer and Davis, 1975) at lower density.Operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., under contract with the National Science Foundation.     

The solar-flare infrared continuum

We consider potential sources of infrared (1 to 1 mm) continuum in solar flares. Several mechanisms should produce detectable fluxes: in the 350 window for ground-based observations, impulsive emission will arise in synchrotron radiation from 1–10 MeV electrons, and possibly thermal (free-free) continuum from the source of the white-light flare; the hot flare plasma responsible for soft X-ray emission will also emit detectable fluxes of free-free continuum in the largest flares. At shorter wavelengths the dominant infrared emission will come from the H flare itself. Observations in the infrared wavelengths will help to complete our picture of flare structure in both the impulsive and gradual phases.     

Post-flare coronal loop interaction

High-resolution images of post-flare loop systems in Fexiv (5303 ) and Fex (6374 ) display occasional transient enhancements at the projected intersection of some loops. The brightness of a green-line enhancement gradually increases to a marked maximum and then fades with a lifetime of the order of thirty minutes. The red-line image at the same location, although fainter, shows the same overall characteristics, its maximum following that of the green-line on average by 8.6 min. H then becomes more evident and reaches a maximum in extent on average 9.3 min after the red-line maximum. The phenomenon is interpreted as a process of localized loop coalescence involving partial magnetic reconnection. Estimates of the electron density are derived from the cooling time following the initial heating of the plasma in the immediate vicinity of the X-point of interaction. Similar estimates for the energy dissipated, equivalent to a very small flare, are derived by two independent methods.Operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., under cooperative agreement with the National Science Foundation.     

A qualitative interpretation of 7 August 1972 impulsive phase flare Hα line profiles

Tanaka's (1977) unique H profiles of the kernels of the 7 August 1972 flare were quantitatively interpreted by Brown et al. (1978; henceforth BCR) in terms of a thick target electron beam model. They found that this interpretation required beam inhomogeneity and/or partial precipation and large (60–100 km s^–1) macroturbulence. The latter requirement is somewhat suspect, since the only independent evidence also comes from efforts to understand the profiles of optically thick chromospheric lines. Relationships between model atmosphere parameters and line profile parameters calculated by Dinh (1980) show that these requirements could be considerably reduced, if not totally eliminated, if the actual chromospheric flare heating mechanism were simultaneously capable of pushing the flare transition region to greater column density and causing less heating of the residual chromosphere than the BCR models. This then implies that the chromosphere is heated primarily by a mechanism through which the heating effects do not penetrate as far below the flare transition region as is the case for a power-law spectrum of non-thermal electrons whose parameters are chosen appropriate to the nonthermal thick target interpretation of hard X-rays. Thermal conduction and optically thick radiation are examples of such a mechanism.     

Hα line profile observations of solar flares with high temporal resolution

H line profile observations of solar flares with high temporal resolution are an important tool for the analysis of the energy transport mechanism from the site of the flare energy release to the chromosphere. A specially designed instrument (imaging spectrograph) allows two-dimensional imaging of an active region simultaneously in 15 spectral channels along the H line profile with a temporal resolution of 5.4 s. Two flares have been observed in November 1982. The first one shows H signatures which one would typically expect in the case of explosive chromospheric evaporation produced by massive injection of non-thermal electrons. The observations of the other flare indicate that the heating of the upper chromosphere is dominated by thermal conduction, although during the impulsive hard X-ray burst there are also signatures of heating by non-thermal electrons.     

Parameters of superflares on G-Type stars observed with the Kepler space telescope

We continued the analysis of 279 G-type stars with superflares (energies in the range of 10³³–10³⁶ erg). We calculated the SFL parameter (part of the stellar surface which emits in the flare). The SFL estimates were derived from the relation connecting this value with the amplitude of the flare and its radiation on the assumption of the blackbody character of the emission at times close to its maximum. Most SFL values are in the range of 0–0.1, with values of 0.2–0.4 for some strong flares. Dependence of SFL on effective temperature for stars with superflares is similar to that found earlier for the spottedness parameter S. The SFL distribution reaches its maximum in the temperature range of about 5100–5250 K and decreases with the effective temperature increase. We suggested an assumption on the presence of bimodal distribution in the “SFL–rotation period” relation with a gap for objects with rotation periods P of about 10 days. For stars with P less than 10 days, the given data can indicate a decrease in flare areas with the P increase. Our analysis showed that significant changes both in flare energy and in flare areas can be achieved with small changes in spottedness S for one and the same star.     

Flare stars and the fast electron hypothesis

An extensive analysis is made of the theory of flare stars based on the fast electron hypothesis, in the light of the latest observational evidence. It is shown that an adequate agreement of theory with the observations obtains regarding the internal regular features in the flare amplitude data inUBV rays, as well as the changes of the colour characteristics of stars during the flares; in the latter case the analysis is made not only in respect of the UV Cet-type stars, but flare stars as well, forming a part of the Orion association. Problems bearing on the negative flare and the screening effect are dealt with. New properties of the light curves of flares are revealed, based on the above theory.Particular emphasis is laid on the X-ray radiation from flare stars. It is shown that the observed spectrum of X-ray radiation of flare stars differs sharply from that of X-ray radiation both of the stellar corona and solar X-ray flares. At the same time, the observed X-ray spectrum of flares is in complete harmony with the previously calculated theoretical spectrum corresponding to nonthermal bremsstrahlung with the energy of monoenergetic fast electrons 1.5 MeV. The durations of X-ray flares should be essentially shorter than that of the optical flares. The very high momentary intensities of the X-ray brightness with the exceedingly small duration at the curve maximum is predicted. It is shown that the gamma-ray bursts recorded so far have no relation whatever to flare stars.     

A constant-α force-free-field analysis of the active region AR 4711 of February, 1986

The theory of Yang, Chang, and Harvey (1983) is used to perform this analysis of the big active region AR 4711 of February, 1986, which produced many big and strong flares with proton events, SIDs and other significant geophysical effects. The various physical quantities are calculated, yielding for M a value up to 5.36 × 10³² erg, sufficient to supply the energies of the observed flare activities in this active region. Observations of the twisting of the entire quadrupolar sunspot group and the variations of the magnetic energies with dates all agree with our theoretical expectations.It is found that the maximum of the f number of flare activity occurred about one day later than the maximum of M, i.e., the release of free magnetic energy to produce flare activity requires a time interval of about one day. This, together with the formula of M can be useful in solar prediction work.Similar to the famous active region of August 1972 (McMath 11976), the separation of both footpoints of the new emerging magnetic flux along the neutral line of the old bipolar group led to the formation of a compact quadrupolar sunspot group, with strong twisting of penumbral filaments.Visiting Professor from the Astrophysics Division, Geophysics Department, Peking University, Beijing, China.