Monitoring and research of high-energy solar flare emissions with GECAM

Abstract

The dual-satellite GECAM (Gravitational wave high-energy Electromagnetic Counterpart All-sky Monitor) project was developed by China for monitoring high-energy astrophysical phenomena. The expected launch date of GECAM is the end of 2020. The main scientific objectives are to observe high-energy emissions from gravitational wave events, gamma-ray bursts, and other explosive energy releases in deep space. Among the most important objectives is monitoring the high-energy events in the solar-terrestrial system. GECAM has a conjugated dual-satellite configuration, with 25 wide-angle gamma-ray detectors (6 keV$-$5 MeV) installed on each platform. With this configuration, GECAM can perform nearly all-sky and full-time observations, and is ideally suited to the monitoring of X-ray and gamma-ray bursts in solar flares. This paper first introduces the background and current status of research on high-energy flare emissions, including the major scientific questions in high-energy solar physics, general features of high-energy flare emissions, as well as research on solar X-ray bursts and Gamma-ray bursts. We focus on analysis of light curves and spectra, and also discuss the important research prospects of GECAM solar data in solar physics.