Solar radio burst (type III)

This article describes the observations of a type III radio burst observed at 103 MHz simultaneously by the two radio telescopes situated at Rajkot (22.3°N, 70.7°E) and Thaltej (23°N, 72.4°E). This event occurred on September 30, 1993 at about 0430 UT and lasted for only half a minute. The event consisted of several sharp spikes in a group. The rise and fall time of these are comparable, however the peaks of individual spikes varied by a factor of four. The comparison of these observations with the data of solar radio spectrograph HiRAS indicates that this was a metric radio burst giving highest emission at about 103 MHz.     

Solar type III burst profiles at decametre-wave frequencies

Observations of type III burst profiles at 18, 22, 26 and 36 MHz, by Barrow and Achong (1975), are used to calculate the form of the exciter function. The burst profile is treated as the convolution of an exciter function and an exponential decay function. The average form of the exciter profile is obtained directly from calculated profiles and further inferred from the first three statistical moments. Normalised average profiles of the burst and the exciter are presented for each frequency.The analysis shows that over the frequency range 18–36 MHz, (1) the exciter function possesses negative skewness, (2) the shapes of burst profiles and exciter profiles are approximately constant and, (3) burst peak time varies linearly with height in the corona. It is suggested that the passage of the exciting electron stream through field-dominated and flow-dominated coronal regions has different effects on the profiles.     

Solar neutrino data and the 11-year solar activity cycle

Recent data on solar neutrino flux have been analysed and it is shown that there is a statistically significant variation of solar neutrino flux data with the solar activity cycle. Thus the observation suggests that the solar activity cycle is due to the pulsating characters of the nuclear energy generation in the interior of the Sun.     

Impulses of activity and the Solar cycle

Extreme-ultraviolet data from EIT/SOHO (1996–2002), soft X-ray data from Yohkoh (1991–2001), and magnetic field data from MDI/SOHO (1996–2002) and Kitt Peak Observatory, NSO/NOAO (1991–2002) are analyzed together in the form of synoptic maps for the investigation of solar cycle variations of the corona and their relation to the magnetic field. These results show new interesting relations between the evolution of the topological structure of the corona, coronal heating and the large-scale magnetic field. The long-lived coronal structures are related to complexes of solar activity and display quasi-periodic behavior (in the form of impulses of coronal activity) with periods of 1.0–1.5 year, in the axisymmetric distribution of EUV and X-ray fluxes during the current solar cycle 23. In particular, during the second maximum of this cycle the solar corona became somewhat hotter than it was in the period of the first maximum.     

On the theory of the type III burst exciter

In situ satellite observations of type III burst exciters at 1 AU show that the beam does not evolve into a plateau in velocity space, contrary to the prediction quasilinear theory. The observations can be explained by a theory that includes mode coupling effects due to excitation of the parametric oscillating two-stream instability and its saturation by anomalous resistivity. The time evolution of the beam velocity distribution is included in the analysis.NAS/NRC Postdoctoral Resident Research Associate.     

Variation of the solar atmospheric rotation over the 11 year cycle

The synodic rotation period and power spectra of solar microwave sources are investigated using accurate data in the interval 1956 to 1970. The variation of the approximate 27 day period is obtained over a complete solar cycle and is thought to be a result of the latitude change over the solar cycle of the origins of the radio emissions. High resolution power spectra have also been obtained and revealed the existence of a double peaked line near 160 day period. This line is attributed to changes in either the Eartn's heliographic latitudes or the Earth's inclination to the Earth-Sun line.     

Kilometric type III burst enhancements associated with interplanetary shocks

Type III bursts have been observed in the 30–100 kHz range which show localized enhancements in their spectra. The enhancements exhibited by a series of type III bursts extending over a period of several hours show a consistent decrease in frequency. The rate of this decrease is consistent with the movement of an interplanetary shock. The passage of such a shock by the Earth is suggested by the occurrence of sudden commencements at approximately the expected time.     

Correlated type III burst emission from distant sources on the Sun

We report the observation and interpretation of a correlated type III burst emitted from distant sources on the Sun. The angular separation between the distant sources is as large as 26 or 10⁶ km. There was an active region 30° behind the limb, and it is believed that the type III burst emission originated from activity in this region. The implications of the locations of the correlated sources with regard to the geometry of the magnetic structures involved in the flare process are discussed.On leave from Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Kodaikanal, India.     

Solar activity and the 11-year modulation of cosmic rays

The cosmic-ray intensity during the 18th and 19th solar cycles is examined in the light of Gnevyshev's suggestion of the presence of two maxima in each solar cycle. The 18th solar cycle (1944–54) has two prominent and widely separated cosmic-ray minima corresponding in phase with the two maxima in Bartel's A_p index. For the 19th solar cycle the existence of two minima is less prominent than for the 18th solar cycle. The maximum at higher solar latitudes is more effective in reducing cosmic-ray intensity than the maximum at the lower latitudes. A_p, however, has a larger maximum during the lower latitude solar maximum. A relation between A_p and cosmic-ray intensity is obtained. This relationship is shown to be consistent with Parker's solar-wind theory of the modulation of cosmic rays.     

Solar radio type III bursts and coronal density structures

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

On the 11-years cycle of solar activity

Each 11-years cycle of solar activity consists of two processes with different physical properties. The variety of shapes of the 11-years curves depends on the way these processes overlap.All events in the photosphere, chromosphere and corona, and all kinds of emissions like the radio- and corpuscular emissions take part in these two processes.Events taking place in the magnetosphere, ionosphere, troposphere and perhaps some chemical and biological events reflect the essential properties of the 11-years cycle.     

Relative timing of microwave bursts and metric type III bursts. Implication on the energy of type III burst exciter

The propagation speed of the exciter of solar type III bursts is derived from observations with high space and time resolution at 22 GHz and 169 MHz. A survey of an active region during two successive days revealed a high degree of association between microwave and type III bursts. From a detailed investigation of their location and timing, which requires neither a coronal density model nor the assumption of radial propagation, the exciter is found to propagate at a speed above at least 0.6c, i.e., much faster than the commonly cited value of c/3. Type III bursts in the dm-m wave band, hence, may reveal the energization of electrons up to energies far above 100 keV.     

Solar energy cycle and its relation to geomagnetic activity

It is suggested that recurrent and nonrecurrent geomagnetic disturbances which are related to the release of solar magnetic energy in the form of unipolar and bipolar magnetic regions respectively, are connected with the variations in the solar energy source. The true beginning of the solar cycle takes place when unipolar magnetic regions start to develop, i.e, when nuclear energy generation becomes dominant over the neutrino energy loss according to the photon-neutrino coupling theory.     

An analysis of type III burst occurrence in spotless regions

An analysis has been carried of the correlation of the occurrence of type III bursts and flares in spotless regions over the past ten years. As a comparison, the same study has been performed also for flares covering major sunspot umbrae (i.e. in magnetic conditions presumably opposite to the above).The results show a very low correlation of the former flares with type III bursts (8%) and a higher than average value for the latter flares (36% against the normally accepted 25%). Thus an important role of the ambient magnetic field on the generation of type III events seems well established.The effect of the presence of surges and of rapid brightness rises (flash-phases) on the correlation with these bursts has been examined: both features appear to improve the correlation.Some considerations regarding the results of other researches as compared to this one are outlined.     

Evidence for electron excitation of type III radio burst emission

Type III radio bursts observed at kilometric wavelengths ( 0.35 MHz) by the OGO-5 spacecraft are compared with > 45 keV solar electron events observed near 1 AU by the IMP-5 and Explorer 35 spacecraft for the period March 1968–November 1969.Fifty-six distinct type III bursts extending to 0.35 MHz ( 50 R equivalent height above the photosphere) were observed above the threshold of the OGO-5 detector; all but two were associated with solar flares. Twenty-six of the bursts were followed 40 min later by > 45 keV solar electron events observed at 1 AU. All of these 26 bursts were identified with flares located west of W 09 solar longitude. Of the bursts not associated with electron events only three were identified with flares west of W 09, 18 were located east of W 09 and 7 occurred during times when electron events would be obscured by high background particle fluxes.Thus almost all type III bursts from the western half of the solar disk observed by OGO-5 above a detection flux density threshold of the order of 10^–13 Wm^–2 Hz^–1 at 0.35 MHz are followed by > 45 keV electrons at 1 AU with a maximum flux of 10 cm^–2 s^–1 ster^–1. If particle propagation effects are taken into account it is possible to account for lack of electron events with the type III bursts from flares east of the central meridian. We conclude that streams of 10–100 keV electrons are the exciting agent for type III bursts and that these same electrons escape into the interplanetary medium where they are observed at 1 AU. The total number of > 45 keV electrons emitted in association with a strong kilometer wavelength type III burst is estimated to be 5 × 10³².     

Solar neutrino flux,cosmic rays,and the solar activity cycle

It is suggested that the experimental data on the solar neutrino flux as measured by Davis and his collaborators from 1970 to 1982 vary with the solar activity cycle to a very high level of statistical significance for all the available tests of the hypothesis (e.g., (t-test, ²-test, run test, Wilcoxon-Mann-Whitney test) when the solar neutrino flux data are computed from the weighted moving averages of order 5. The above tests have also been applied to the data that have been generated by the Monte Carlo simulation with production rate and background rate parameters that are typical of those in the actual experiment. It is shown that the Monte Carlo simulated data do not indicate a variation within the solar cycle. Thus the moving average data strongly favours the variation within the solar activity cycle.     

Solar wind density model from km-wave type III bursts

Solar radio bursts were observed with a 4-channel radiometer and polarization analyser at wavelenghts around 12 m. The time and frequency resolutions were 10 ms and 100 kHz respectively. Observations on the duration, time profile and frequency splitting are described.     

The role of the magnetic field intensity and geometry in the type III burst generation

We study the association of type III bursts related to H flares in different magnetic environments in the period 1970–1981. Special attention is paid to flares which partly cover a major spot umbra (Z-flares). In particular we consider the location of the spots in the active regions and the magnetic field intensities of spots covered by a ribbon. The association rate with type III bursts decreases to 17% when the flare is located inside the bipolar pattern of a large active region, compared with an association rate of 54% when the flare is situated outside it. The association rate increases with the magnetic field intensity of the spot covered by H emission; this is most clearly revealed for the flares occurring outside the bipolar pattern of active regions. Ninety-three percent of the flare-associated type III burst were accompanied by 10 cm radio bursts. For the most general case in which a flare is developing anywhere in an active region, the association with type III bursts generation increases with the increasing magnetic field intensity of the main spot of the group.     

Variations of type III burst parameters during a decametric solar storm

An analysis has been made of type III bursts recorded during a decametric solar storm observed from July 29 to August 16, 1975 with the UTR-2 antenna (Kharkov, IRE Acad. Sci. Ukr. SSR). The bursts were recorded with a dynamic spectrograph and radiometers at 25.0, 20.0, 16.7, and 12.5 MHz. Daily observations have yielded histograms of the type III burst distribution with respect to the frequency drift rate in three subbands between 25.0 and 12.5 MHz. During the middle stage of the storm the drift rate was about twice as high as at the onset and the final stage of the storm. Abrupt changes in the mean frequency drift rate were registered some two to three days after the active region McMath 13790 had come onto the limb and also before it disappeared behind the solar disk. Sudden changes in the drift rates of the type III bursts were accompanied by sudden changes of their mean duration. The rather long burst durations observed at 25.0 MHz at the beginning and the end of the radio storm coincided with such at the twice lower frequency, i.e. 12.5 MHz, during the period when an increased drift rate was observed.Similar variations of type III burst parameters can be interpreted in the framework of the plasma mechanism of burst generation in the corona, assuming that at the middle stage of the storm the bursts observed in the 25.0–12.5 MHz range were emitted at the fundamental whereas when the emitting region was near the limb the bursts received corresponded to the second harmonic of the Langmuir oscillations in the range of 12.5 to 6.25 MHz excited at greater heights.     

Evidence for halo-like radio sources from kilometric type III burst observations

The radio azimuths for many kilometric type III bursts that originate near or behind the limb of the Sun are observed to drift far to the east or far to the west of the spacecraft-Sun line. It is shown that the behavior of the observed burst parameters for these events corresponds to the response of a spinning dipole antenna to halo-like sources of radiation around the Sun. Our results provide evidence for a previous suggestion that behind-the-limb type III events should appear as halo-like sources of radiation to an observer on the opposite side of the Sun, due to scattering of the radiation from the primary source back around the Sun.