X-Ray Evidence for the Acceleration, Containment, and Emission of High Energy Flare Particles

Abstract

An instrument aboard the Fifth Orbiting Solar Observatory has observed hard solar X-rays from January 1969 to May 1972. A large number of X-ray bursts generated by solar cosmic ray flares have been observed. The X-ray bursts consist, in general, of two non-thermal components. The earliest occurring non-thermal component, coincident with the explosive phase, consists of a group of one to about ten X-ray bursts that are, for each burst, approximately 10 s duration and symmetrical in rise and decay. The time structure and multiplicity of these bursts is remarkably similar to that found in type III radio bursts in the meterwave band. The spectra of these bursts steepens sharply at energies greater than 100 keV indicating a limit at this energy for electron acceleration during the explosive or flash phase of the flare. For several flares these multiple X-ray bursts have occurred in coincidence with a group of type III bursts.