The stationary post-flare arch of May 21/22, 1980

On May 21/22, 1980 the Hard X-Ray Imaging Spectrometer aboard the SMM imaged an extensive coronal structure after the occurrence of a two-ribbon flare on May 21, 20:50 UT. The structure was observed from 22:20 UT on May 21 until its disappearence at 09:00 UT on May 22.At 22:20 UT the brightest pixel in the arch was located at a projected altitude of 95 000 km above the zero line of the longitudinal magnetic field. At 23:02 UT the maximum of brightness shifted to a neighbouring pixel with approximately the same projected altitude. This sudden shift indicates that the X-ray structure consisted of (at least) two separate arches at approximately the same altitude, one of which succeeded the other as the brightest arch in the structure at 23:02 UT.From 23:02 UT onwards the maximum of brightness did not change its position in the HXIS coarse field of view. With a spatial resolution of 32 this places an upper limit of 1.1 km s^-1 on the rise velocity of the arch. Thus, contrary to a similar arch observed on November 6/7, where rise velocities of the order of 10 km s^-1 were measured in the same phase of development, the May 22 arch was a stationary structure at an altitude of 145000 km.The following values were estimated for the physically relevant quantities of the May 21/22 arch at the time of its maximum brightness (23:00 UT): temperature T 6.3 × 10⁶ K, electron density n _e 1.1 × 10⁹ cm^-3, total emitting volume V 5 × 10²⁹ cm³, energy density 2.9 erg cm^–3, total energy contents E 1.4 × 10³⁰ erg, total mass M 9 × 10¹⁴ g.The top of the arch was observed at 145 000 km altitude within 1.5 hr after the flare occurrence. Since it seems unlikely that the structure already existed prior to the flare at 20:50 UT, the arch must have risen to its stationary position with an average velocity exceeding 17 km s^–1 (possibly much faster). We speculate that the arch was formed very fast at the flare onset, when (part of) the active region loop system was elevated within minutes to the observed altitude.     

Thermal structures associated with post-flare coronal arches

Shortly after the dynamic flare of 14 44 UT on 6 November, 1980, which initiated the second revival in the sequence of post-flare coronal arches of 6–7 November, a moving thermal disturbance was observed in the fine field of view of HXIS. From 15 40 UT until about 18 UT, when it left the field of view, the disturbance rose into the corona, as indicated by a projected velocity of 7.4 km s^-1 in the south-east direction. The feature was located above the reconnection region of the dynamic flare and was apparently related to the revived coronal arch. Observations in the coarse field of view after 18 UT revealed a temperature maximum in the revived arch, rising with a velocity of 7.0 km s^-1 directly in continuation of the thermal disturbance. The rise velocity of the disturbance was initially (at least until 17 20 UT) very similar to the rise velocities observed for the post-flare loop tops of the parent flare. This suggests that the rise of the reconnection point, in the Kopp and Pneuman (1976) mechanism responsible for the rise of the loop tops, also dictates the rise of the disturbance. From energy requirements it follows that in this phase the disturbed region is still a separate magnetic island, thermally isolated from the old arch structure and the post-flare loops. After 18 UT the rise of the post-flare loop tops slowed down to 2 km s^-1, which is significantly slower than the rise of the brightness and temperature maxima of the revived arch in the coarse field of view. Thus in this phase the Kopp and Pneuman mechanism is no longer directly responsible for the rise of the thermal structure and the rise possibly reflects the merging of the old and the new arch structures.A similar thermal disturbance was observed after the dynamic flare of 07: 53 UT on 4 June, 1980. On the other hand, the confined flare of 17 25 UT on 6 November, 1980, did not show this phenomenon. Apparently this type of disturbance occurs after dynamic flares only, in particular when the flare is associated with an arch revival.     

Observational study of the ‘post’-flare loops on June 4, 1991

A limb, two-ribbon H flare on June 4, 1991, associated with a white-light flare and followed by an emission spray and post-flare loops, is studied. A region of rapidly enhanced brightness at the bottom of the H ribbon above the white-light flare is revealed. The energy released by the white-light flare at _eff = 4100 is estimated to be about 1.5 × 10²⁸ erg s^–1.     

Observations of a post-flare radio burst in X-rays

More than six hours after the two-ribbon flare of 21 May 1980, the hard X-ray spectrometer aboard the SMM imaged an extensive arch above the flare region which proved to be the lowest part of a stationary post-flare noise storm recorded at the same time at Culgoora. The X-ray arch extended over 3 or more arc minutes to a projected distance of 95 000 km, and its real altitude was most probably between 110 000 and 180 000 km. The mean electron density in the cloud was close to 10⁹ cm^–3 and its temperature stayed for many hours at a fairly constant value of about 6.5 × 10⁶ K. The bent crystal spectrometer aboard the SMM confirms that the arch emission was basically thermal. Variations in brightness and energy spectrum at one of the supposed footpoints of the arch seem to correlate in time with radio brightness suggesting that suprathermal particles from the radio noise regions dumped in variable quantities into the low corona and transition layer; these particles may have contributed to the population of the arch, after being trapped and thermalized. The arch extended along the H = 0 line thus apparently hindering any upward movement of the upper loops reconnected in the flare process. There is evidence from Culgoora that this obstacle may have been present above the flare since 15–30 min after its onset.     

The flares of August 1972

We present the analysis of observations of the August flares at Big Bear and Tel Aviv, involving monochromatic movies, magnetograms and spectra. In each flare the observations fit a model of particle acceleration in the chromosphere with emission produced by impact and by heating by the energetic electrons and protons. The region showed inverted polarity and high gradients from birth, and flares appear due to strong magnetic shears and gradients across the neutral line produced by sunspot motions. Post flare loops show a strong change from sheared, force-free fields parallel to potential-field-like loops, perpendicular to the neutral line above the surface.We detected fast (5 s duration) small (1') flashes in 3835 at the footpoints of flux loops in the August 2 impulsive flare at 1838 UT, which may be explained by dumping of > 50 keV electrons accelerated in individual flux loops. The flashes show excellent time and intensity agreement with > 45 keV X-rays. In the less impulsive 2000 UT flare a less impulsive wave of emission in 3835 moved with the separating footpoints. The thick target model of X-ray production gives a consistent model for X-ray, 3835 and microwave emission in the 18:38 UT event.Spectra of the August 7 flare show emission 12 Å FWHM in flare kernels, but only 1 to 2 Å wide in the rest of the flare. The kernels thus produce most of the H emission. The total emission in H in the August 4 and August 7 flares was about 2 × 10³⁰ erg. We belive this dependable value more accurate than previous larger estimates for great flares. The time dependence of total H emission agrees with radio and X-ray data much better than area measurements which depend on the weaker halo.Absorption line spectra show a large (6 km/s^-1) photospheric velocity discontinuity across the neutral line, corresponding to sheared flow across that line.This work has been supported by NASA under NGR 05 002 034, NSF Atmospheric Sciences program under GA 24015, and AFCRL under FI9628-73-C-0085.     

Flaring arches

Flaring arches is a name assigned to a particular component of some flares. This component consists of X-ray and H emission which traverses a coronal arch from one to the other of its chromospheric footpoints. The primary footpoint is at the site of a flare. The secondary footpoint, tens of thousands of kilometers distant from the source flare, but in the same active region, brightens in H concurrent with the beginning of the hard X-ray burst at the primary site. From the inferred travel time of the initial exciting agent we deduce that high speed electron streams travelling through the arch must be the source of the initial excitation at the secondary footpoint. Subsequently, a more slowly moving agent gradually enhances the arch first in X-rays and subsequently in H, starting at the primary footpoint and propagating along the arch trajectory. The plasma flow in H shows clearly that material is injected into the arch from the site of the primary footpoint and later on, at least in some events, a part of it is also falling back.Thus a typical flaring arch has three, and perhaps four consecutive phases: (1) An early phase characterized by the onset of hard X-ray burst and brightening of the secondary footpoint in H. (2) The main X-ray phase, during which X-ray emission propagates through the arch. (3) The main H phase, during which H emitting material propagates through the arch. And (4) an aftermath phase when some parts of the ejected material seem to flow in the reverse direction towards the primary site of injection.An extensive series of flaring arches was observed from 6 to 13 November, 1980 at the Big Bear Solar Observatory and with the Hard X-Ray Imaging Spectrometer (HXIS) on board the SMM in a magnetically complex active region. The two most intense arches for which complete H and X-ray data are available and which occurred on 6 November at 17 21 UT (length 57000 km) and on 12 November at 16 57 UT (length 263 000 km) are discussed in this paper.     

Large-scale brightenings associated with flares

Flare-associated large-scale (>10¹⁰ cm) X-ray brightenings, the so-called giant arches in the nomenclature of vestka and co-workers, were discovered in images obtained by the SMM Hard X-ray Imaging Spectrometer hours after the onset of two-ribbon flares. The apparent correlation between both phenomena suggested that they could be interpreted in the framework of the same model.In this paper we show that large-scale loop brightenings, of sizes similar to the giant arches, occur also in association with confined flares in complex active regions. In these cases, the relation between the large-scale structure and the underlying flare is clearly given by the magnetic field topology. We also show that energization of these structures can be partially due to the injection of suprathermal particles that are accelerated at the separator region.We discuss the implications of these results within the framework of the interacting loops picture of flares and of the giant arch phenomenology.Member of the Carrera del Investigador Científico, CONICET, Argentina.     

The magnetic geometry and structure of the giant post-flare arch of 21–22 May, 1980

On 21–22 May, 1980 the HXIS instrument aboard SMM imaged an enormous, more-or-less stationary, X-ray arch structure near the position of a large two-ribbon flare which immediately preceded it in time. As described by vestka et al. (1982), the arch remained visible for up to 10 hours. Previous inferences of the height, orientation, and physical parameters of this feature have been based largely on the X-ray data and on radio observations of the associated stationary Type I noise storm. In the present paper we use the observed photospheric line-of-sight magnetic field distribution to compute, in the current-free approximation, the three-dimensional topology of the coronal field above the flare site. Comparing the HXIS intensity contours of the arch to the projected shapes of the field lines suggests that the arch is indeed aligned with certain coronal flux tubes and allows an independent determination of the geometrical arch parameters to be made. This procedure indicates that the true height of the arch is about 70000 km, i.e., appreciably less than was suggested previously (although it is still certainly to be classified as a giant feature of the post-flare evolution).These results suggest that the arch may be a by-product of magnetic reconnection occurring far above the flare site, analogous to the post-flare loops seen at lower heights. Unlike the latter, however, the field lines undergoing reconnection here link more distant parts of the active region; i.e., they do not represent direct linkages across the magnetic neutral line and thus appear to be topologically quite distinct from those which thread the underlying post-flare loops. In fact, of this group of peripheral field lines, the arch could simply comprise the lowest-lying ones to have been opened up by the flare process (and the first to reconnect again). This would explain why both the arch and the post-flare loops were visible early in the decay phase, being products of separate reconnection processes. Moreover, because of the lower plasma density and longer cooling times of the arch, this feature persisted long after the post-flare loops faded from view. A calculation of the magnetic energy liberated by reconnection shows that this process is easily capable of satisfying the overall energy requirements of the arch (the latter as determined from observations).On leave from Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM 87545, U.S.A.     

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.     

Periodic variations in the spectrum of the dwarf nova WX Hyi in outburst and minimum

We present the analysis of spectrograms obtained during quiescence and during an ordinary outburst of the SU UMa type dwarf nova WX Hyi (ESO 3.6m telescope, B&C spectrograph with Image Disector Scanner, 171 Åmm^–1, range 4000–7000 Å, time resolution 6min.). The radial velocities of these spectra have been discussed by Schoembs and Vogt (1981) who also derived the orbital elements of WX Hyi. The phasesmax refer to these elements. All velocities discussed here are with respect to the white dwarf, not to the center of mass of the binary system.Inquiescent state we did not find significant radial velocity variations. The equivalent widths W of the He I emission lines revealed periodic variations with an amplitude of 30%, maximal values of W were observed atmax=0.0...0.2. In contrast, the equivalent widths of the Balmer lines were not variable.Duringoutburst we found periodic radial velocity variations of the emission peak of H, H and He I 5875 with an amplitude of100 km s^–1,max0.5. Also the broad Balmer absorption lines revealed periodic radial velocity variations, with a similar amplitude (max=0.3...0.5). The equivalent width of the H central emission peak varies with an amplitude of30%,max0.85. No variations of the equivalent width of the Balmer absorption lines were found.The outburst observations suggest that the preceeding part of the disc is brighter than the following one (in orbital motion). This is probably due to heating of the preceeding part by collisions with circumbinary matter, which seems to have an enhanced density in outburst as compared to the quiescent state. The emission lines are formed in outer layers or in a halo around the disc. The equivalent width variations can be interpreted in terms of interactions between this halo and the optically thick part of the disc.A more detailed discussion of the data is being published elsewhere.Paper presented at the IAU Colloquium No. 93 on Cataclysmic Variables. Recent Multi-Frequency Observations and Theoretical Developments, held at Dr. Remeis-Sternwarte Bamberg, F.R.G., 16–19 June, 1986     

Theoretical model of flares and prominences

A theoretical model of flare which explains observed quantities in H, EUV, soft X-ray and flare-associated solar wind is presented. It is assumed that large mass observed in the soft X-ray flare and the solar wind comes from the chromosphere by the process like evaporation while flare is in progress. From mass and pressure balance in the chromosphere and the corona, the high temperature in the soft X-ray flare is shown to be attained by the larger mass loss to the solar wind compared with the mass remained in the corona, in accord with observations. The total energy of 10³² erg, the electron density of 10^13.5 cm^–3 in H flare, the temperature of the X-ray flare of 10^7.3K and the time to attain maximum H brightness (600 s) are derived consistent with observations. It is shown that the top height of the H flare is located about 1000 km lower than that of the active chromosphere because of evaporation. So-called limb flares are assigned to either post-flare loops, surges or rising prominences.The observed small thickness of the H flare is interpreted by free streaming and/or heat conduction. Applications are suggested to explain the maximum temperature of a coronal condensation and the formation of quiescent prominences.     

Impulsive phase heating and a coronal explosion in a solar flare

The flare of 12 November 1980, 0250 UT, in Active Region 2779 (NOAA classification) was studied by using X-ray images obtained with the Hard X-Ray Imaging Spectrometer aboard NASA's Solar Maximum Mission. In a ten-minute period, between about 0244 and 0254 UT, some five short-lived impulsive bursts occurred. We found that the so-called hard bursts ( 15 keV) are also detectable in low energy images. During that 10 min period - the impulsive phase - the heat input into the flare and the total number of energetic electrons increased practically exponentially, to reach their maximum values at 0254 UT. At the end of that period, when the thermal energy content of the flare was largest, a burst was observed, for the first time, to spread in a broad southern direction from an initially small area with a speed of about 50 km s^–1. We have called this phenomenon a coronal explosion.Fokker Aircraft Industries, Schiphol, The Netherlands.     

MULTISPECTRAL OBSERVATIONS OF AN ERUPTIVE FLARE

We analyze the pre-flare and impulsive phase of an eruptive (two-ribbon) flare at several wavelengths. The total energy (mechanical plus radiative) released by the flare is 8 x 10³⁰ erg, about a factor 6 higher than the free magnetic energy (1.3 10³⁰ erg) estimated from the non-potentiality of the magnetic field configuration in the flare area. During the impulsive phase, we find a very good time coincidence between the hard X-ray light curve and the light curves for 2 small areas ( 4 in size) in the red wing of the H line and in the He-D₃ line center. This temporal coincidence is compatible with the interpretation that hard X-ray emission is produced by bremsstrahlung of accelerated electron beams striking these dense areas. For the other regions of the H ribbons we find more gradual light curves, suggesting a different energy transport mechanism such as conduction.     

Spatial,spectral, and polarization properties of radio emission of the 3 February, 1983 proton flare

A complex analysis in different radio ranges of the evolutionary features of the 3 February, 1983 flare (0543-0619-0812 UT) has shown that the flare is a prolonged ( 15 hr) process of energy release and particle acceleration that gradually extends to still greater zones of the active region (AR) magnetosphere in both area and altitude. Observations from the Siberian Solar Radio Telescope obtained at = 5.2 cm indicate that the flare was preceded by quasi-periodical brightness enhancements with a period of 6–7 min of two sources of size 20 and with a brightness temperature of 107 K.During the flare maximum phase, a type II burst with harmonic structure and the subsequent type FC II continuum with fine structure were both observed in the meter band. It has been found that zebra-structure appearances correlate with the H-flare kernel brightenings at loop tops.The observed characteristics of the type II burst and of the type FC II continuum treated in this paper are interpreted in terms of the complex flare flow structure, involving forward and backward shock waves.     

Observations of an unusual pair of homologous flares on March 17, 1970

Correlated optical, radio and X-ray observations are presented for a pair of consequently homologous flares which occurred on March 17, 1970. A rich complexity of behavior in a bright sub-flare with maximum at 1444 UT is repeated in a flare of importance 1B with maximum at 22:49 UT. The unusual and interesting aspect of these flares is that the second flare developed at approximately half the rate of the first. A difference in the trigger mechanism of the two flares is suggested as a possible explanation.     

Dimensional Analysis of the Flare Distribution Problem

Dimensional analysis is used to derive the distribution of solar flare energies,p() = A-^3/2, in accordance with recent observational and numerical results. Several other scalings, notably _fl ² , where _fl is the flare duration, are obtained as well.     

Spectrograph,filtergraph and magnetograph observations of the two-ribbon flare of 29 July, 1973

We present high resolution detailed observations of the class 3N two-ribbon flare of 1973, July 29 (McMath 12461), which was associated with the disappearance of a large filament (disparition brusque). This flare occurred in a diffuse bipolar magnetic region completely devoid of sunspots, and was further associated with a type IV radio burst and a soft X-ray event. Extensive H filtergraph, spectrograph and magnetograph records during the main phase of the flare suggest that downfalling and streaming material is present on both ribbons for several hours during the H emission enhancement, but only at a small number of points located both on and off the ribbons. We find a poor spatial correspondence between bright emission knots in the H ribbons and the positions of the observed downward motion. We conclude that the model of infall-impact of Hyder (1967a, b) is not consistent with our filtergraph and spectrograph observations.Presently at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan.     

Lyman continuum observations of solar flares

A study is made of Lyman continuum observations of solar flares, using data obtained by the Harvard College Observatory EUV spectroheliometer on the Apollo Telescope Mount. We find that there are two main types of flare regions: an overall mean flare coincident with the H flare region, and transient Lyman continuum kernels which can be identified with the H and X-ray kernels observed by other authors. It is found that the ground level hydrogen population in flares is closer to LTE than in the quiet Sun and active regions, and that the level of Lyman continuum formation is lowered in the atmosphere from a mass column density m 5/sx 10^–6 g cm^–2 in the quiet Sun to m 3/sx 10^–4 g cm^–2 in the mean flare, and to m 10^–3g cm^–2 in kernels. From these results we derive the amount of chromospheric material evaporated into the high temperature region, which is found to be - 10¹⁵g, in agreement with observations of X-ray emission measures. A comparison is made between kernel observations and the theoretical predictions made by model heating calculations, available in the literature; significant discrepancies are found between observation and current particle-heating models.     

Observations of energetic X-rays and solar cosmic rays associated with the 23 May 1967 solar flare event

On 23 May 1967 energetic (10–50 keV) solar flare X-rays were observed by the OGO-III ion chamber during the period 1808–2100 UT. The time-intensity profile for the X-ray event showed three distinct peaks at 1810, 1841 and 1942 UT. The second peak, which is equivalent to 2.9 × 10^–3 ergs cm^–2sec^–1 above 20 keV, is the largest X-ray burst observed so far by the OGO-I and OGO-III ion chambers. The soft (2–12 Å) X-ray observations reported by Van Allen (1968) also show similar peaks, roughly proportional in magnitude to the energetic X-ray peaks. However, the intensity of energetic X-rays peaked in each case 5–10 min earlier than the soft X-ray intensity indicating a relatively hard photon energy spectrum near the peak of the energetic X-ray emission. The corresponding time-intensity profile for the solar radio emission also showed three peaks in the microwave region nearly coincident with the energetic X-ray peaks. The third radio peak was relatively rich in the metric emission. Beyond this peak both the energetic X-rays and the microwave emission decayed with a time constant of 8 min while the corresponding time constant for the soft X-rays was 43 min. In view of the earlier findings about the energetic X-rays it is indicated that the 23 May solar X-ray event was similar to those observed earlier. During the 23 May event the integral energy flux spectrum at the time of peak intensity is found to be consistent with the form e ^–E/E ₀, E ₀ being about 3.4 and 3.7 keV for the peaks at 1841 and 1942 UT, respectively. Assumption of a similar spectrum during the decay phase indicates that the spectral index E ₀ decreased nearly exponentially with time.The OGO-III ion chamber, which is also sensitive to protons 12 MeV, observed a solar particle event starting at 2100 UT on 23 May. It could not be determined uniquely which of the two principal X-ray peaks was associated with the particle event, and in fact both may have contributed. The particle intensity reached its maximum value at 1003 UT on 25 May 1967. The equivalent peak radiation dosage was 24 R/hour behind the 0.22 g cm^–2 thick aluminum wall of the chamber. This peak radiation dosage was considerably smaller than the maximum dosage (60 R/hour) during the 2 September 1966 solar particle event, the largest event observed so far by the OGO-I and OGO-III satellites. The temporal relationship between the solar X-ray and particle events on 23 May 1967 was similar to that observed in the solar flare events on 7 July 1966, 28 August 1966 and 27 February 1967.     

Flare morphologies and coronal field configurations

Chromospheric flares are the footpoints of closed coronal field lines. In this paper we present different flare morphologies from observations and examine the implied coronal field configurations above the flaring region. Flares are grouped according to the number of ribbons, from unresolved compact point-like flare to four-ribbon flares. Quiet region flares having characteristics all their own are also presented here.We find that compact, unresolved point-like flares have two distinct footpoints when viewed in offband H. The footpoints of some of the compact flares also show increased separation as a function of time.Unlike large two-ribbon flares, the ribbons of many small and/or short-lived two-ribbon flares usually have no measurable separation of ribbons.Multiple-ribbon (three or more ribbon) flares consist of two or more pairs of two-ribbons, or two or more sets of field lines. Parity of the ribbons in multiple-ribbon flares, or the lack of it, depends on the magnetic makeup of the locale of the ribbons.Flares in old quiet regions resulting from sudden filament eruptions show discrete small patches of emissions reflecting the spottiness of decayed and dispersed field of quiet region.