Characteristics of type III exciters derived from low frequency radio observations

Low frequency radio observations (2.8 MHz-67 kHz) from the RAE-1 and IMP-6 satellites allow the tracking of type III solar burst exciters out to large distances from the Sun (of the order of 1 AU). A study of the interaction processes between the exciter and the interplanetary medium was made using the time-intensity profiles of the radio emission. We have investigated the change in exciter length with distance from the Sun, and the resulting exciter velocity dispersion which can be deduced from this change. From detailed measurements on 35 simple bursts we have found that the exciter length increases at a faster rate than a constant velocity dispersion would give. We have also investigated the damping of the radio emission and have concluded that some current theories of the damping mechanism give results which are not consistent with the low frequency observations.Work performed while a NRC/NAS Postdoctoral Resident Research Associate.