Oblique Bernstein Mode Generation Near the Upper-hybrid Frequency in Solar Pre-flare Plasmas

Abstract

We study analytically the generation process of the first harmonics of the pure electron weakly oblique Bernstein modes. This mode can appear as a result of the rise and development of a corresponding instability in a solar active region. We assume that this wave mode is modified by the influence of pair Coulomb collisions and a weak large-scale sub-Dreicer electric field in the pre-flare chromosphere near the footpoints of a flare loop. To describe the pre-flare plasma we used the model of the solar atmosphere developed by Fontenla, Avrett, and Loeser (Astrophys. J. 406, 319, 1993). We show that the generated first harmonic is close to the upper-hybrid frequency. This generation process begins at the very low threshold values of the sub-Dreicer electric field and well before the beginning of the preheating phase of a flare. We investigate the necessary conditions for the existence of non-damped first harmonics of oblique Bernstein waves with small amplitudes in the flare area.