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.     

Second-stage acceleration in a limb-occulted flare

We analyze hard and soft X-ray, microwave and meter wave radio, interplanetary particle, and optical data for the complex energetic solar event of 22 July 1972. The flare responsible for the observed phenomena most likely occurred 20° beyond the NW limb of the Sun, corresponding to an occultation height of 45 000 km. A group of type III radio bursts at meter wavelengths appeared to mark the impulsive phase of the flare, but no impulsive hard X-ray or microwave burst was observed. These impulsive-phase phenomena were apparently occulted by the solar disk as was the soft X-ray source that invariably accompanies an H flare. Nevertheless essentially all of the characteristic phenomena associated with second-stage acceleration in flares - type II radio burst, gradual second stage hard X-ray burst, meter wave flare continuum (FC II), extended microwave continuum, energetic electrons and ions in the interplanetary medium - were observed. The spectrum of the escaping electrons observed near Earth was approximately the same as that of the solar population and extended to well above 1 MeV.Our analysis of the data leads to the following results: (1) All characteristics are consistent with a hard X-ray source density n _i 10⁸ cm^–3 and magnetic field strength 10 G. (2) The second-stage acceleration was a physically distinct phenomenon which occurred for tens of minutes following the impulsive phase. (3) The acceleration occurred continuously throughout the event and was spatially widespread. (4) The accelerating agent was very likely the shock wave associated with the type II burst. (5) The emission mechanism for the meter-wave flare continuum source may have been plasma-wave conversion, rather than gyrosynchrotron emission.     

Low-level decimetric (1.6 GHz) solar burst activity

Observations of solar bursts at 1.6 GHz were carried out in the month of July 1985 for about two weeks. Five intervals of solar burst activity, each one lasting for a couple of minutes, were observed. Predominantly, two classes of fast bursts were observed: viz: spike and blips. However, some of these bursts were two orders of magnitude less intense than those reported earlier.Low-level blips have typical duration 350 ms, excitation time 200 ± 25 ms, decay time 130 ± 25 ms and a low degree of circular polarization of about 15%. Detailed investigations of decay times of the blips have been carried out in terms of collisional damping and Landau damping. Observed decay times of the blips seem to favour the hypothesis of collisional damping. This investigation suggests that blips probably originate at second harmonic by beam plasma interaction as that of metric type III bursts. Also, low-level ms-spikes with the half power duration in the range of 5 to 20 ms suggest that source sizes be smaller than 50 km if the process of emission is electron-cyclotron maser.Proceedings of the Second CESRA Workshop on Particle Acceleration and Trapping in Solar Flares, held at Aubigny-sur-Nère (France), 23–26 June, 1986.     

Analysis of narrow spikes in two cosmic gamma-ray bursts

An analysis has been made of the narrow intensity spikes occurring in two cosmic gammaray bursts which were observed with a fast time resolution germanium spectrometer on board the low altitude polar orbiting satellite 1972-076B (Imhofet al., 1974a, 1975; Nakanoet al., 1974a). The bursts on 18 December, 1972 and 21 July, 1973, were also recorded on the Vela satellite system. The durations of three spikes were observed to be 0.06 s with the limits being 0.03 to 0.10 s. Four other narrow spikes were measured to have time width limits between 0.001 and 0.10 s. An additional eight spikes had widths less than 0.9 s. During the spikes, the gamma-ray intensities increased by factors of 2 to 10, with a median value of 3. These and other characteristics of the fast time structure are presented.Paper presented at the COSPAR Symposium on Fast Transients in X- and Gamma-Rays, held at Varna, Bulgaria, 29–31 May, 1975.     

Immediate reports of GRBs in progress from HETE

The High Energy Transient Experiment (HETE) will be able to perform multiwavelength observations of-ray and X-ray bursts. HETE will potentially be able to localize-ray bursts to a precision of 20 arc-minutes if significant X-ray flux is detected from the burst; a precision of 20 arc-seconds is possible if there is also significant UV radiation from the burst. HETE will broadcast information about bursts detected within seconds of their detection. This VHF-band broadcast will be received at a number of secondary ground stations (SGS) dedicated to HETE, and forwarded to a central distribution site at MIT, from which it is sent to interested observers via Internet.     

Binary star model of the γ-ray burst with special reference to that on 5 March, 1979 and subsequent bursts on 6 March, 4 April,and 24 April, 1979

The peculiar -ray burst phenomenon of 5 March, 1979, and the other subsequent bursts on 6 March, 4 April, and 24 April, 1979, are studied, using the physically more realistic exponentially increasing accretion rate on a highly magnetized neutron star from its companion, and the conclusions that pycnonuclear reaction flash for the first and thermonuclear flashes for the subsequent bursts as the most probable model for this series of bursts, are made.We further conclude that a huge -ray burst is a sequel to rapid X-ray transient or type-I X-ray bursts, i.e., an almost exactly similar burst as on 5 April, 1979 will never repeat from the same source, instead rapid X-ray transient burst, or type-I X-ray burst will be occured. A rough estimate gives that the next burst will occur within 0.5 yr since 24 April, 1979.     

Acceleration of electrons in absence of detectable optical flares deduced from type III radio bursts,Hα activity and soft X-ray emission

The relationship between H absorption features, type III radio bursts and soft X-ray emission has been examined in order to determine the characteristics of the particle acceleration process operating when a H-flare may not be detectable. It is found that transient H activity observed in the absence of reported flares is associated with production of relatively weak type III radio and soft X-ray emission. Since such optical phenomena are much more frequent than flares themselves, it is concluded that instabilities generating fast particles may be produced in the corona in a quasi-continuous way with coincident perturbations in the lower solar atmosphere.The soft X-ray component, which is similar to the precursor in flares, is not necessarily the direct product of fast particles, but is probably associated with some type of heating since both the soft X-ray emission and the H features exhibit a similar evolution, the type III bursts occurring near the maximum of this perturbation. The observations are consistent with a model in which the electron acceleration region is located at an altitude where the ion density is 10⁹ cm^–3 and most of the accelerated electrons( 20 keV) are confined to coronal altitudes where the ion density is 10¹⁰ cm^–3.     

Characteristics of Flares with Hα Emission Protruding over Major Sunspot Umbrae

A sample of 47 importance 1 flares whose H emission occurred or protruded over umbrae of major sunspots (so called Z-flares) was studied to investigate characteristics of the associated dm–m radio, microwave and soft X-ray emission as the energy release site permeats into regions of strong magnetic fields. A close time association was found between the microwave burst peak and the `contact' of the H emission with the sunspot umbra. The H emission attained maximum close to or a few minutes after the contact. The soft X-ray bursts were delayed more, attaining maximum 0–10 min after the contact. The onset of bursts in the dm–m wavelength range was associated with the period of growth or the peak of the microwave burst. Two categories of type III and IV bursts could be recognized: the ones starting some ten minutes before the microwave peak, and those that begin close to the microwave burst peak. Type III bursts occur preferably when the microwave burst peaks simultaneously with or after the contact. The results are explained presuming that the contact reveals a permeation of the energy release process into a region of strong magnetic fields, where the process intensifies, and where the accelerated particles have access to magnetic field lines extending to large coronal heights. Different manifestations of the energy release process in various magnetic field topologies are considered to account for the various time sequences observed.     

Statistical survey of planetary nebulae: Distances,masses, and distribution in the galaxy

On the basis of empirical (D)-dependency at the frequency of 5 GHz constructed using 15 planetary nebulae with the independently measured distances (10^–171×10^–20 W m^–2 Hz^–1 ster^–1), we evaluated distances of 335 objects. Independent evidence of the correctness of the accepted scale are given. Then(D)-dependency is constructed and it is shown that atD<0.08 pc the mean electron density is higher than the one determined by the Seaton method. We showed that the filling factor diminishes with the increase of the PN diameter (1 atD0.08 pc and 0.2 atD0.4 pc). the ionized mass of 33 PNs is determined. With the diameter increase the ionized mass grows and atD0.4 pc reaches the valueM0.07M . We used the new distance scale when investigating the space distribution of PNs. The mean scale height =130±15 pc and the mean gradient of the change of surface densitym=0.37, which allowed us to estimate the total number of nebulae in the GalaxyN4×10⁴. We divided the PNs according to their velocities (withV _LSR>35 km s^–1 andV _LSR<35 km s^–1) and permitted us to confirm that the PN belong to different sub-systems of the Galaxy. The estimated local formation rate of PNs [=(4.6±2.2)×10^–12 pc^–3 yr^–1] is a little higher than the one of the white dwarfs. That can be explained by a large number of PNs having binary cores, which used in our sample. The statistical estimation of PN expansion velocity showed thatV _ex increases from 5–7 km s^–1 (atD0.03 pc) to 40–50 km s^–1 (atD0.8 pc).     

Electron acceleration in solar flares

We present observations of an intense solar flare hard X-ray burst on 1980 June 27, made with a balloon-borne array of liquid nitrogen-cooled germanium detectors which provided unprecedented spectral resolution (1 keV FWHM). The hard X-ray spectra throughout the impulsive phase burst fitted well to a double power-law form, and emission from an isothermal 10⁸–10⁹K plasma can be specifically excluded. The temporal variations of the spectrum indicate that the hard X-ray burst is made up of two superposed components: individual spikes lasting 3–15 s, whch have a hard spectrum and a break energy of 30–65 keV; and a slowly varying component characterized by a soft spectrum with a constant low-energy slope and a break energy which increases from 25 keV to 100 keV through the event. The double power-law shape indicates that acceleration by DC electric fields parallel to the magnetic field, similar to that occurring in the Earth's auroral zone, may be the source of the energetic electrons which produce the hard X-ray emission. The total potential drop required for flares is typically 10² kV compared to 10 kV for auroral substorms.     

Structure and evolution of solar radio bursts at 26.4 MHz

Two dimensional source brightness distributions at 26.4 MHz for solar bursts of spectral type II, III, IV, and V are derived from observations with a multiple-baseline, time-sharing interferometer system. It was designed explicitly to study the large angle (40 halo) component of low frequency solar bursts first reported by Weiss and Sheridan (1962). Thirty-two bursts occurring in the interval of June–August, 1975, were fit with a circular gaussian core and an elliptical gaussian halo component. Half-power halo diameters (E-W×N-S) averaged 30×28 for type III bursts and 42×27, 28×37, 30×25 for type V, II and IV bursts respectively. Typical core sizes fell in the range of 10±4 giving 31 halo to core size ratio. All burst types were found to have some large angle structure: the specific intensity was 10% compared to the core but the total power in each component was comparable. Two processes for producing the core-halo structure of type III bursts are compared: scattering and refraction of a point source and refraction from many sources over an extended region. It is concluded that the core can be explained by either model but the halo is more consistent with emission from an extended source region of 40° in longitude.     

Optically thick accretion onto black holes

Spherically symmetric, steady-state, optically thick accretion onto a nonrotating black hole with the mass of is studied. The gas accreting onto the black hole is assumed to be a fully ionized hydrogen plasma withn ₀=10⁸ cm^–3 andT ₀=10⁴ K far from the black hole, and a new approximate expression for the Eddington factor is introduced. The luminosity is estimated to beL=1.875×10³³ erg s^–1, which primarily arises from the optical surface (1) ofT10⁴ K. The accretion flow is characterized by 1 and (v/c)10. In the optically thin region, the flow remains isothermal, and the increase of temperature occurs at 1. The radiative equilibrium is strictly realized at (v/c)10.     

Short-Term Periodicities in the Time Series of Solar Radio Emissions at Different Solar Altitudes

A spectral analysis of the time series of daily values of 12 parameters, namely, ten solar radio emissions in the range 275–1755 MHz, 2800 MHz solar radio flux, and sunspot numbers for six continuous intervals of 132 values each during June 1997–July 1999 showed considerable differences from one interval to the next, indicating a nonstationary nature. A 27-day periodicity was noticed in Interval 2 (26.8 days), 3 (27.0 days), 5 (25.5 days), 6 (27.0 days). Other periodicities were near 11.4, 12.3, 13.3, 14.5, 15.5, 16.5, 35, 40, 50–70 days. Periodicities were very similar in a large vertical span of the coronal region corresponding to 670–1755 MHz. Above this region, the homogeneity disappeared. Below this region, there were complications and distortions due to localized solar surface phenomena.     

Time Evolution of low-Frequency Periodicities in Cosmic ray Intensity

The long-time series of daily means of cosmic-ray intensity observed by four neutron monitors at different cutoff rigidities (Calgary, Climax, Lomnický tít and Huancayo/Haleakala) were analyzed by means of the wavelet transform method in the period range 60 to 1000 days. The contributions of the time evolution of three quasi-periodic cosmic-ray signals (150 d, 1.3 yr and 1.7 yr) to the global one are obtained. While the 1.7-yr quasi-periodicity, the most remarkable one in the studied interval, strongly contributes to the cosmic ray intensity profile of solar cycle 21 (particularly in 1982), the 1.3-yr one, which is better correlated with the same periodicity of the interplanetary magnetic field strength, is present as a characteristic feature for the decreasing phases of the cycles 20 and 22. Transitions between these quasi-periodicities are seen in the wavelet power spectra plots. Obtained results support the claimed difference in the solar activity evolution during odd and even solar activity cycles.     

10–100 keV electron acceleration and emission from solar flares

We present an analysis of spacecraft observations of non-thermal X-rays and escaping electrons for 5 selected small solar flares in 1967. OSO-3 multi-channel energetic X-ray measurements during the non-thermal component of the solar flare X-ray bursts are used to derive the parent electron spectrum and emission measure. IMP-4 and Explorer-35 observations of > 22 keV and > 45 keV electrons in the interplanetary medium after the flares provide a measure of the total number and spectrum of the escaping particles. The ratio of electron energy loss due to collisions with the ambient solar flare gas to the energy loss due to bremsstrahlung is derived. The total energy loss due to collisions is then computed from the integrated bremsstrahlung energy loss during the non-thermal X-ray burst. For > 22 keV flare electrons the total energy loss due to collisions is found to be 10⁴ times greater than the bremsstrahlung energy loss and 10² times greater than the energy loss due to escaping electrons. Therefore the escape of electrons into the interplanetary medium is a negligible energetic electron loss mechanism and cannot be a substantial factor in the observed decay of the non-thermal X-ray burst for these solar flares.We present a picture of electron acceleration, energy loss and escape consistent with previous observations of an inverse relationship between rise and decay times of the non-thermal X-ray burst and X-ray energy. In this picture the acceleration of electrons occurs throughout the 10–100 sec duration of the non-thermal X-ray burst and determines the time profile of the burst. The average energy of the accelerated electrons first rises and then falls through the burst. Collisions with the ambient gas provide the dominant energetic electron loss mechanism with a loss time of 1 sec. This picture is consistent with the ratio of the total number of energetic electrons accelerated in the flare to the maximum instantaneous number of electrons in the flare region. Typical values for the parameters derived from the X-ray and electron observations are: total energy in > 22 keV electrons total energy lost by collisions = 10^28–29 erg, total number of electrons accelerated above 22 keV = 10³⁶, total energy lost by non-thermal bremsstrahlung = 10²⁴erg, total energy lost in escaping > 22 keV electrons = 10²⁶erg, total number of > 22 keV electrons escaping = 10^33–34.The total energy in electrons accelerated above 22 keV is comparable to the energy in the optical or quasi-thermal flare, implying a flare mechanism with particle acceleration as one of the dominant modes of energy dissipation.The overall efficiency for electron escape into the interplanetary medium is 0.1–1% for these flares, and the spectrum of escaping electrons is found to be substantially harder than the X-ray producing electrons.Currently at Tokyo Astronomical Observatory, Mitaka, Tokyo, Japan.     

Spatial development of X-ray emission during the impulsive phase of a solar flare

The flare of 11 November, 1980, 1725 UT occurred in a magnetically complex region. It was preceded by some ten minutes by a gradual flare originating over the magnetic inversion line, close to a small sunspot. This seems to have triggered the main flare (at 70 000 km distance) which originated between a large sunspot and the inversion line. The main flare started at 172320 UT with a slight enhancement of hard X-rays (E > 30 keV) accompanied by the formation of a dark loop between two H bright ribbons. In 3–8 keV X-rays a southward expansion started at the same time, with - 500 km s ^–1. At the same time a surge-like expansion started. It was observable slightly later in H, with southward velocities of 200 km s^–1. The dark H loop dissolved at 1724 UT at which time several impulsive phenomena started such as a complex of hard X-ray bursts localized in a small area. At the end of the impulsive phase at 172540 UT, a coronal explosion occurred directed southward with an initial expansion velocity of 1800 km s^–1, decreasing in 40 s to 500 km s^–1.Now at Fokker Aircraft Industries, Schiphol, The Netherlands.     

Radio echo and sporadic radiation scattering in the solar corona

Some properties of solar radio bursts observed at the Earth are mainly due to propagation effects in the corona. A radio echo of short-time narrow-band bursts is observed by a decameter radioheliograph on the basis of UTR-2 antenna. Propagation effects are manifested in the marked regular change of the burst intensity-time profile at 25 MHz during a half-rotation of the Sun. A displacement of limb diffuse bursts deep into the solar atmosphere of 1.5 - 2R has been also found during the burst lifetime.     

Decimetric type III radio bursts and associated hard X-ray spikes

A detailed comparison is made between hard X-ray spikes and decimetric type III radio bursts for a relatively weak solar flare on 1981 August 6 at 10: 32 UT. The hard X-ray observations were made at energies above 30 keV with the Hard X-Ray Burst Spectrometer on the Solar Maximum Mission and with a balloon-born coarse-imaging spectrometer from Frascati, Italy. The radio data were obtained in the frequency range from 100 to 1000 MHz with the analog and digital instruments from Zürich, Switzerland. All the data sets have a time resolution of 0.1 s or better. The dynamic radio spectrum shows many fast drift type III radio bursts with both normal and reverse slope, while the X-ray time profile contains many well resolved short spikes with durations of 1 s. Some of the X-ray spikes appear to be associated in time with reverse-slop bursts suggesting either that the electron beams producing the radio bursts contain two or three orders of magnitude more fast electrons than has previously been assumed or that the electron beams can trigger or occur in coincidence with the acceleration of additional electrons. One case is presented in which a normal slope radio burst at 600 MHz occurs in coincidence with the peak of an X-ray spike to within 0.1 s. If the coincidence is not merely accidental and if it is meaningful to compare peak times, then the short delay would indicate that the radio signal was at the harmonic and that the electrons producing the radio burst were accelerated at an altitude of 4 × 10⁹ cm. Such a short delay is inconsistent with models invoking cross-field drifts to produce the electron beams that generate type III bursts but it supports the model incorporating a MASER proposed by Sprangle and Vlahos (1983).     

Взаимооействие Излучения Рентгеновскооо Истооника с АтмосФерой Нормальной Звезды в Тесных Двойных Системах

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The pulse-period distribution of binary X-ray pulsars

The pulse-period distribution of binary X-ray pulsars has been considered. A gap in this distribution, in the period rangeP10 s toP100s has been explained in terms of the character of mass transfer in the X-ray binary systems. It is shown that this gap arises because the rotating magnetised neutron stars in these systems are slowed down by accretion torques, either toP10 s when the mass transfer is by means of Roche-lobe overflow in low mass binaries, or toP100 s by stellar winds in massive binaries. The gap is maintained as the slow pulsars (P>100 s) in their spin-up phase cross the gap in a time short compared to their life-time, because of the increase in mass transfer with the evolution of the normal star.