Time-match semi-empirical models of the chromospheric flare on 3 February, 1983

Spectra of a 2B flare on 3 February, 1983 were observed simultaneously at H, H, and Can H, K lines with a multichannel spectrograph in the solar tower telescope of Nanjing University. The flare occurred in an extended region of penumbra at S 17 W07 from 05 : 41 to 07 : 00 UT. By use of an iterative method to solve the equations describing hydrostatic, radiative, and statistical equilibrium for hydrogen and ionized calcium atoms, five semi-empirical models corresponding to different times of the chromospheric flare have been computed. The results show that after the beginning of the flare, the heating of the chromosphere starts and the transition layer begins to be displaced downwards. However, during the impulsive phase the flare chromospheric region has a rapid outward expansion followed by a quick downward contraction. At the same time the transition layer starts to ascend and then descend again. After the H intensity maximum, the flare chromospheric region continues to condense and attains its most dense phase more than ten minutes after the maximum. Finally, the flare chromospheric region returns slowly to the normal chromospheric situation.     

Evolution of fibrils with special reference to flare activity

We show observational results on the pre-flare evolutions of H structures as well as the developments of H flares. It is shown that the chromospheric features are brought to a sheared state before flares due to motions of footpoints which correspond to particular sunspot motions. Generally in evolutions of the chromospheric features it is found that motions and reconnections of the footpoints play essential roles. The following three stages are found for development of the neutral line filament before flares: (1) formation of a filament as a result of reconnection; (2) increase of the shear of the filament due to the shear motion; and (3) reconnection of fine components of the filament to form an elongated component immediately before flares. We further show developments of two particular flares with and without the filament, and point out basic release processes of flares. The flare that occurred at the filament (July 5, 1974) started with the activation of the elongated component of the filament after the process (3). The main phase of a two-ribbon flare is considered as the rises of short components of the filament triggered by the rising motion of the elongated component. The flare of September 10, 1974 occurred at the region where fibrils connect the sunspots in distorted form. Pre-flare distortion was produced by translational rotation of the sunspot. Development of this two-ribbon flare is interpreted as being due to successive rises of the fibrils with a self-trigger mechanism.On leave from Tokyo Astronomical Observatory (present address).     

Structures of chromospheric magnetic field in the vicinity of the filament of active region 5669

In this paper, the chromospheric magnetic structures and their relation to the photospheric vector magnetic field in the vicinity of a dark filament in active region 5669 have been demonstrated. Structural variations are shown in chromospheric magnetograms after a solar flare. Filament-like structures in the chromospheric magnetograms occurred after a solar flare. They correspond to the reformation of the chromospheric dark filament, but there is no obvious variation of the photospheric magnetic field. We conclude that (a) some of the obvious changes of the chromospheric magnetic fields occurred after the flare, and (b) a part of these changes is perhaps due to flare brightening in the chromospheric H line.During the reforming process of the dark filament, a part of its chromospheric velocity field shows downward flow, and it later shows upward flow.     

On some flare-sensitive high photospheric and low chromospheric lines

During a stay at the Kitt Peak National Observatory the writer has tried to find an influence of flare radiation on the high photospheric and low chromospheric lines of the area occupied by the flare. Observations have been made in the H region and in the region of the H and K lines. When flare emission is present in sunspots some of the faint (molecular) lines seem to be weakened. When a flare appears near the solar limb some of the Evershed-type (chromospheric) lines are strongly influenced.Kitt Peak National Observatory Contribution No. 481.Visiting Astronomer to the Solar Division, Kitt Peak National Observatory, operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc. under contract with the National Science Foundation.     

X-ray observations of filament eruption in the 1980 May 21 flare

X-ray and H observations of an erupting filament, discussed herein, and other observations of the associated flare on 1980 May 21, suggest that an erupting filament played a major role in the X-ray flare. While Antonucci et al. (1985) analyzed the May 21 flare as one of the best cases of chromospheric evaporation, the possible contribution from X-ray emitting erupting plasma has been ignored. We show that pre-heated plasma existed and may have contributed part of the blue-shifted X-ray emission observed in the Caxix line, which was formerly attributed solely to chromospheric evaporation. Thus it remains an open question - in two-ribbon flares in particular - just how important chromospheric evaporation is in flare dynamics.     

Multiwavelength Observations of the 5 January 1992 Flare

The 5 January 1992 flare around 13:16 UT was observed in H, H, and Ca ii H with the imaging spectrographs at Locarno-Monti, Switzerland and in soft and hard X-rays by the Yohkoh satellite. In this paper we discuss the analysis of the temporal and spatial evolution of this flare well observed at chromospheric and coronal layers. We find that the strongest footpoint emission in the optical lines does not coincide with the sites of non-thermal electron injection and show that these footpoints are mainly heated by thermal conduction. The chromospheric electron density, determined from the H line profiles, shows several temporally well correlated rises with the hard X-ray intensity at the electron injection sites. Two of the flare loops clearly are associated with strong chromospheric evaporation, while very weak evaporation is observed in the loop with the strongest footpoint emission in the optical lines.     

Flare and filament activation in an unusually distorted field configuration

Using photospheric and H observations and total radio flux data we study a two-ribbon flare in AR NOAA 4263 which was a part of a flare event complex on July 31, 1983. We find some facts which illuminate the special way of flare triggering in the analysed event. Around a double spot the photospheric vector magnetic field is discussed with respect to the chromospheric activities. In one of the spots the feet of long stretched loops are pushed down under steepening loops rooted in the same spot. This causes energy build-up by twist and shear in the stretched loops. One foot of the two-ribbon flare (triggered in the stretched and underpushed loop system) roots in a part of the spot umbra and penumbra where the field runs in extremely flat like a pressed spiral spring. A strange radio event, starting before the flares, can be interpreted as a precursor activity of the flare event complex. The radio data support the view that the analyzed flare process and the given magnetic field structure, respectively, are not very effective in energetic particle generation and escape.     

Preliminary interpretation of the polarization measurements performed on ‘Intercosmos-4’ during three X-ray solar flares

Analysis of the X-ray polarization data at 0.8 Å for three major chromospheric flares shows that during the hard phase of the flare the X-rays are polarized in the plane, the projection of which on the solar disc is going approximately from the flare region to the center of the disc. Simultaneously performed measurements of the spectral energy distribution have proved that observed X-rays are produced by the bremsstrahlung of the accelerated electrons with the energies in the range 10–100 keV. The experimental data are in good agreement with the flare model, which deals with the radial movement of accelerated electrons towards the photosphere, together with the continuous injection of these electrons into the emitting region.Presented to International Meeting on Solar Activity, IZMIRAN, November 15–22, 1971.     

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.     

Detection of Hα Intensity Oscillations in Solar Flares

We report here the first direct evidence for detection of H intensity oscillations in two extended flares of 15 November 1989 and 20 April 1991. The relative intensity variations measured with time at 18 different flare and chromospheric locations were analysed to obtain the oscillation modes. The analysis shows prominent 5- and 3-min modes in flares in addition to their existence in the chromosphere. However, there exists a frequency difference between the flare and chromospheric modes. This frequency deviation of about 300 µHz is proposed as an influence of higher magnetic field, location of the measurements (height) in chromosphere, and high temperature in the flare.     

The spotless flare of 16 March 1981 – I. Pre-Flare Activations of the Chromospheric Fine Structure

This paper is based on observations in the H line with the aim to carry out a detailed study of the spotless flare of importance 1N that was observed at the Baikal Astrophysical Observatory on 16 March 1981. The study focuses on the evolution of the region of interest from the time of its appearance from behind the limb, and on the pre-flare activation of chromospheric features four hours before the flare. The disturbances that preceded the flare spanned an area of about 120 square degrees. The bulk of activations occurred along and near the path of the polarity inversion line (PIL) of the longitudinal component of the magnetic field. The flare was preceded by an eruptive filament, a disturbance of the fine structure of supergranulation cells, and by the formation of dark vortex structures in regions where flare ribbons form; dark mottles in these regions signaled the operation of an oscillatory process with a period of about 3–4 min, and the region where one of the flare ribbons formed showed a `tunnel' of a system of small-scale dark loops. A close association of the chromospheric activations and flare mottles, with the boundaries of the chromospheric and magnetic networks, is established.     

Multiwavelength Flare Observations: Temporal Evolution of the 20 August 1992 Flare

The 20 August 1992 flare around 14:28 UT was observed in H, H and Ca ii H with the imaging spectrographs at Locarno-Monti, Switzerland, with the radiotelescopes in Bern, and in soft and hard X-rays by the Yohkoh satellite. In this paper we discuss the analysis of the temporal and spatial evolution of this flare, well observed at chromospheric and coronal layers. We find that the chromospheric electron density shows well-correlated rises with the hard X-rays emphasizing the direct response of the chromosphere to the energy deposition. Although both footpoints of the loops show simultaneous rises of the electron density, non-thermal electron injection is only observed in one of the footpoints, while an additional heating mechanism, like thermal conduction, must be assumed for the other footpoint. However, it is puzzling that all the chromospheric observations in both footpoints are delayed by 3 s compared to the hard X-ray light curve. Although this would be compatible with the thermal heating of one footpoint, it is in contradiction to the non-thermal heating of the other one. Finally, we observed evidence that during the first part of the flare a thermal conduction front propagates at a speed of 2000 km s^-1 into a second loop, in which the energy release occurs in the second part of the flare.     

Chromospheric downflow velocities as a diagnostic in solar flares

We explore the dynamics of chromospheric condensations driven by evaporation during the impulsive phase of solar flares. Specifically, we find that the maximum chromospheric downflow speed obeys the approximate relation _d = 0.4 (F/ _ch )^1/3, where F is that part of the flare energy flux driving chromospheric evaporation, and _ch is the mass density in the preflare chromosphere just below the preflare transition region. This implies that chromospheric downflows as measured by H asymmetries may be a powerful probe of flare energetics.     

Evaporation causes flare-related radio burst continuum depressions

We study the active region NOAA 6718 and the development of a (2N, M3.6) flare in radio and H. Due to our knowledge of the magnetic field structure in the active region we are able to associate the different radio flare burst components with the stages in the H flare evolution. A discussion of the data in terms of chromospheric flare kernel heating reveals that in the present case the observed flare-related radio burst continuum switch-off is caused by the penetration of hot, ablated gas into the coronal radio source.     

Spatial and temporal evolution of soft and hard X-ray emission in a solar flare

We study the spatial and temporal characteristics of the 3.5 to 30.0 keV emission in a solar flare on April 10, 1980. The data were obtained by the Hard X-ray Imaging Spectrometer aboard the Solar Maximum Mission Satellite. It is complemented in our analysis with data from other instruments on the same spacecraft, in particular that of the Hard X-ray Burst Spectrometer.Key results of our investigation are: (a) Continuous energy release is needed to substain the increase of the emission through the rising phase of the flare, before and after the impulsive phase in hard X-rays. The energy release is characterized by the production of hot (5 × 10⁷ T 1.5 × 10⁸ K) thermal regions within the flare loop structures. (b) The observational parameters characterizing the impulsive burst show that it is most likely associated with non-thermal processes (particle acceleration). (c) The continuous energy release is associated with strong chromospheric evaporation, as evidenced in the spectral line behavior determined from the Bent Crystal Spectrometer data. Both processes seem to stop just before flare maximum, and the subsequent evolution is most likely governed by the radiative cooling of the flare plasma.     

Combined study between the chromospheric flare models and hard X-ray observation

By comparison between SMM HXRBS observation and ground observation of H and Caii K lines for the 2B flare on February 3, 1983, we found that there was a temporal correlation between H intensity and hard X-ray flux at the early stage of the impulsive phase while different peaks in the hard X-ray flux curve represented bursts at different locations. When we combined SMM HXRBS observation with chromospheric flare models, we further found that the temporal coincidence between H intensity and hard X-ray flux could be explained quantitatively by the fact that the H flare was indeed due to the heating by non-thermal electron beams responsible for the emission of hard X-rays. Together with the discussion on coronal density based on chromospheric flare models, it was also shown that the source of electrons seemed to be situated around the top of the flare loop and the column density at the top of the chromosphere in semi-empirical flare models could not be taken as the total material above the top of the chromosphere.     

Structures of chromospheric magnetic fields in the solar flare producing active region 5747

In this paper, the formation and the measurement of the H line in chromospheric magnetic fields are discussed. The evolution of the chromospheric magnetic structures and the relation with the photospheric vector magnetic fields and chromospheric velocity fields in the flare producing active region AR 5747 are also demonstrated.The chromospheric magnetic gulfs and islands of opposite polarity relative to the photospheric field are found in the flare-producing region. This probably reflects the complication of the magnetic force lines above the photosphere in the active region. The evolution of the chromospheric magnetic structures in the active region is caused by the emergence of magnetic flux from the sub-atmosphere or the shear motion of photospheric magnetic fields. The filaments separate the opposite polarities of the chromospheric magnetic field, but only roughly those of the photospheric field. The filaments also mark the inversion lines of the chromospheric Doppler velocity field which are caused by the relative motion of the main magnetic poles of opposite polarities in the active region under discussion.     

He I 10830 observations of the 3N/M4.0 flare of 4 September, 1982

Hei 10830 Å spectroheliograms of a major 3N two-ribbon flare occurring in Boulder Region 3885/3886 early on 4 September, 1982 are discussed and compared with H and soft X-ray observations of the event. This flare, observed for more than 60 hr in Hei 10830, was associated with the eruption of a large filament in the active region complex, the formation of coronal holes, a long-duration soft X-ray event, and was the probable source of a earthward coronal mass ejection and the largest geomagnetic storm of this solar cycle. The results of this study suggest the Hei flare is a chromospheric manifestation of the X-ray coronal loop structures associated with flares.Visitor, National Solar Observatory, operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., under contract with the National Science Foundation.     

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.     

OBSERVATIONS OF FAINT,OUTLYING LOOP SYSTEMS IN LARGE FLARES

Faintly visible, darkened regions in H lying outside but adjacentto bright flare emissionwere found to occur in 10 of 31 major flares investigated. Without exception, the darkenings occur over magnetically neutral areas, and these are usually bordered by ridges ofoppositely-poled field, where one border is shared in common with a flare ribbon. Thedarkenings probably result from the formation of faint, outlying loop systems, similar topost-flare loops seen in absorption, but which are connected to magnetic features outsidethe flare and are unresolved or only marginally resolved in patrol images. Simple modelsfor post-flare loops incorporating the results of statistical equilibrium calculations readilydemonstrate that darkenings of several percent (consistent with our photometric measurements) can be produced by loop structures of cross-sectional diameter 10² km (unresolved by patrol instruments) and containing gas at densities 5 × 10¹⁰–5 × 10¹¹ cm^-3 andtemperatures 8000–15000 K. Outlying loop systems might be formed by magnetic fieldreconnection, analogous to the mechanism ascribed to eruptive two-ribbon flares, butassociated with field structures adjacent to the flare. Alternatively, these outlying loopsystems may not erupt but become visible as a result of heating and chromospheric evaporation at the footpoints shared with the flare ribbon. In either case, the observations presented here have interesting implications for both the spatial scale and the topology of thecoronal magnetic fields in which eruptions occur.