Common features in the development of powerful long-duration solar X-ray flares

Abstract

We have begun an investigation of the possible origins of considerable of powerful solar flares. This effect is manifest, first and foremost, in the existence of high-temperature plasma in flare loops over many hours. Analysis of the soft X-ray emission in two energy bands detected by the GOES satellites for about 20 powerful solar flares reveals long time intervals during the decay phase when the source temperature decreases, in general, exponentially. The characteristic time ti for a decrease in the temperature by a factor of ten is 3–10 hours for most powerful events. In addition, another interval of very slow decrease with a characteristic time ti of tens of hours can be identified in some cases. We found a gradual change in the dependence of the temperature on the square root of the emission measure for the source as a whole, which characterizes the transition from purely coronal processes to powerful flares with a prolonged inflow of plasma from the chromosphere. Modeling the energy balance in a loop can yield the requirements for the source of plasma heating in a long-lived arch system. A necessary condition for the development of prolonged flares seems to be a powerful coronal mass ejection, which initiates the formation of a source of plasma heating at coronal heights. Our analysis shows that a considerable fraction of the energy is often released in the region of the cusp, and that systems of giant coronal arches rising to heights of about 100 000 km above the limb are formed in most prolonged events (called dynamical flares in the terminology of Svestka).