Statistical analysis of solar radio fiber bursts and relations with flares

Abstract

Fiber bursts are a type of fine structure that frequently occurs in solar flares. Although observations and theory of fiber bursts have been studied for decades, their microphysical process, emission mechanism, and especially the physical links with the flaring process still remain unclear. We performed a detailed statistical study of fiber bursts observed by the Chinese Solar Broadband Radio Spectrometers in Huairou with high spectral-temporal resolutions in the frequency ranges of 1.10−2.06 GHz and 2.60−3.80 GHz during 2000−2006. We identify more than 900 individual fiber bursts in 82 fiber events associated with 48 solar flares. From the soft X-ray observations of the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite, we found that more than 40% of fiber events occurred in the preflare and rising phases of the associated solar flares. Most fiber events are temporally associated with hard X-ray bursts observed by RHESSI or microwave bursts observed by the Nobeyama Radio Polarimaters, which implies that they are closely related to the nonthermal energetic electrons. The results indicate that most fiber bursts have a close temporal relation with energetic electrons. Most fiber bursts are strongly polarized, and their average duration, relative bandwidth, and relative frequency-drift rate are about 1.22 s, 6.31%, and −0.069 s−1. The average duration and relative bandwidth of fiber bursts increase with solar flare class. The fiber bursts associated with X-class flares have a significantly lower mean relative frequency-drift rate. The average durations in the postflare phase are clearly longer than the duration in the preflare and rising phases. The relative drift rate in the rising phase is clearly higher than that in preflare and postflare phases. The hyperbola correlation of the average duration and the relative drift rate of the fiber bursts is very interesting. These characteristics are very important for understanding the formation of solar radio fiber bursts and for revealing the nonthermal processes of the related solar flares.