High spatial resolution observations of solar flares at 3.3 mm wavelength

Abstract

We present the first high-spatial-resolution interferometric observations of solar flares at millimeter wavelengths, carried out with the Berkeley-Illinois-Maryland Array (BIMA). The observations represent an improvement of an order of magnitude in both sensitivity and spatial resolution compared with previous solar observations at these wavelengths. Most of the flares occurring within the field of view during the observations were detected by BIMA, including both very impulsive and longer-duration events. It appears that millimeter burst sources are not much smaller than microwave sources. If the emission in the flash phase is predominantly due to gyrosynchrotron emission, we can rule out thermal gyrosynchrotron models for the radio emission because the flux at millimeter wavelengths is too high. During the Flares 22 campaign we will collect both imaging data as well as dedicated patrol observations of flare time profiles at millimeter wavelengths.