Solar Broadband Radio Spectrometer Research Articles

MICROWAVE QUASI-PERIODIC PULSATIONS IN MULTI-TIMESCALES ASSOCIATED WITH A SOLAR FLARE/CME EVENT

Microwave observations of quasi-periodic pulsations (QPP) in multi-timescales are confirmed to be associated with an X3.4 flare/CME event at Solar Broadband Radio Spectrometer in Huairou (SBRS/Huairou) on 13 December 2006. It is most remarkable that the timescales of QPPs are distributed in a broad range from hecto-second (very long period pulsation, VLP, the period P>100 s), deca-second (long period pulsation, LPP, 10<P<100 s), few seconds (short period pulsation, SPP, 1<P<10 s), deci-second (slow-very short period pulsation, slow-VSP, 0.1<P<1.0 s), to centi-second (fast-very short period pulsation, fast-VSP, P<0.1 s), and forms a broad hierarchy of timescales. The statistical distribution in logarithmic period-duration space indicates that QPPs can be classified into two groups: group I includes VLP, LPP, SPP and part of slow-VSPs distributed around a line approximately; group II includes fast-VSP and most of slow-VSP dispersively distributed away from the above line. This feature implies that the generation mechanism of group I is different from group II. Group I is possibly related with some MHD oscillations in magnetized plasma loops in the active region, e.g., VLP may be generated by standing slow sausage mode coupling and resonating with the underlying photospheric 5-min oscillation, the modulation is amplified and forms the main framework of the whole flare/CME process; LPP, SPP, and part of slow-VSPs are most likely to be caused by standing fast modes or LRC-circuit resonance in current-carrying plasma loops. Group II is possibly generated by modulations of resistive tearing-mode oscillations in electric current-carrying flaring loops.

The statistical features of radio bursts with fine structure at 1.1–7.6 GHz

This work presents the spectral and temporal features of radio bursts with fine structures (FSs) at broad band from 1.1 to 7.6 GHz. Fifteen burst events are studied with high frequency and temporal cadence observation from the Solar Broadband Radio Spectrometer at three frequency bands. It is found that the amount and species of radio FS decrease with increasing frequency band; the pulsation, type III burst and continuum are most frequently recorded; almost in all the burst events, more radio FSs occur before the soft X-ray (SXR) maximum than after; at 1.1–2.06 GHz, all types of radio FSs have more before the SXR peak except fiber; at 2.6–3.8 GHz, pulsation, fiber and spike prefer to appear after the peak; the separation between neighboring emission lines of zebra pattern increases with increasing frequency and the magnetic field deduced from the whistler model is 29–86 G at 1.1–2.06 GHz and 89–268 G at 2.6–3.8 GHz.

Spiky Fine Structure of Type III-like Radio Bursts in Absorption

An uncommon fine structure in the radio spectrum consisting of bursts in absorption was observed with the Chinese Solar Broadband Radiospectrometer (SBRS) in the frequency range of 2.6 – 3.8 GHz during an X3.4/4B flare on 13 December 2006 in active region NOAA 10930 (S05W33). Usual fine structures in emission such as spikes, zebra stripes, and drifting fibers were observed at the peak of every new flare brightening. Within an hour at the decay phase of the event we observed bursts consisting of spikes in absorption, which pulsated periodically in frequency. Their instantaneous frequency bandwidths were found to be in the 75 MHz range. Moreover, in the strongest Type III-like bursts in absorption, the spikes showed stripes of the zebra-pattern (ZP) that drifted to higher frequencies. All spikes had the duration as short as down to the limit of the instrument resolution of ≈8 ms. The TRACE 195 A images indicate that the magnetic reconnection at this moment occurred in the western edge of the flare loop arcade. Taking into account the presence of the reverse-drifting bursts in emission, in the course of the restoration of the magnetic structures in the corona, the acceleration of the beams of fast particles must have occurred both upward and downward at different heights. The upward beams will be captured by the magnetic trap, where the loss-cone distribution of fast particles (responsible for the emission of continuum and ZP) were formed. An additional injection of fast particles will fill the loss-cone later, breaking the loss-cone distribution. Therefore, the generation of continuum will be quenched at these moments, which was evidenced by the formation of bursts in absorption.

Broadband radio spectral observations of the solar eclipse on 2008-08-01 and its implications on the quiet Sun atmospheric model

Based on the joint-observations of the radio broadband spectral emissions of the solar eclipse on August 1, 2008 at Jiuquan (total eclipse) and Huairou (partial eclipse) at the frequencies of 2.00–5.60 GHz (Jiuquan), 2.60–3.80 GHZ (Chinese solar broadband radiospectrometer, SBRS/Huairou), and 5.20–7.60 GHz (SBRS/Huairou), the authors assemble a successive series of broadband spectra with a frequency of 2.60–7.60 GHz to observe the solar eclipse synchronously. This is the first attempt to analyze the solar eclipse radio emission under the two telescopes located at different places with broadband frequencies in the periods of total and partial eclipses. With these analyses, the authorsmade a semiempirical model of the coronal plasma density of the quiet Sun, which can be expressed as ne ≃ 1.42×109(r−2+1.93r−5) (cm−3), in the space range of r=1.039–1.212 R⊙, and made a comparison with the classic model.

Short‐Lived Absorptive Type III–like Microwave Bursts as a Signature of Fragmented Electron Injections

In this paper, we devote ourselves to interpreting the short-lived absorptive type III-like microwave bursts in the 2006 December 13 flare event observed with high temporal and spectral resolutions (8 ms and 10 MHz) by the Chinese Solar Broadband Radio Spectrometer (SBRS/Huairou) at 2.6-3.8 GHz. In the decimeter-centimeter wavelength range, we first present the observations of short-lived bursts represented as a number of absorptive "spikes" superposed on the type IV continuum that can be connected by fast-drifting lines. The mean drift rate, the instantaneous bandwidth, and the absorption depth of these absorptive spikes are about –12 GHz s−1, 70 MHz, and 40%, respectively. The duration at a single frequency band can be less than the instrument resolution of 8 ms. On the basis of numerical investigations of the loss-cone instability, we suggest that fragmented electron injections with durations of as short as several milliseconds into the loss cone could be the most appropriate mechanism with which to explain the bursts. The length of an electron beam is estimated to be about 400 km, on the basis of the observational results. These injections may be related to the fragmented energy release processes during the flare. We also observe some absorptive type III-like bursts accompanying ordinary type III bursts with reverse drifts. They start at the same frequency, and the starting frequency slowly drifts to the low-frequency region. This could be a signature of propagating bidirectional electron beams originating near the reconnection region.

A Study of Solar Radio Bursts with Fine Structures during Flare/CME Events

We have selected 27 solar microwave burst events recorded by the Solar Broadband Radio Spectrometer (SBRS) of China, which were accompanied by M/X class flares and fast CMEs. A total of 70.4% of radio burst events peak at 2.84 GHz before the peaks of the related flares’ soft X-ray flux with an average time difference of about 6.7 minutes. Almost all of the CMEs start before or around the radio burst peaks. At 2.6 – 3.8 GHz bandwidth, 234 radio fine structures (FSs) were classified. More often, some FSs appear in groups, which can contain several individual bursts. It is found that many more radio FSs occur before the soft X-ray maxima and even before the peaks of radio bursts at 2.84 GHz. The events with high peak flux at 2.84 GHz have many more radio FSs and the durations of the radio bursts are independent of the number of radio FSs. Parameters are given for zebra patterns, type III bursts, and fiber structures, and the other types of FSs are described briefly. These radio FSs include some special types of FSs such as double type U bursts and W-type bursts.

Observable Parameters of Solar Microwave Pulsating Structure and Their Implications for Solar Flare

From the observations with the Chinese Solar Broadband Radiospectrometer (SBRS/Huairou) in the frequency range of 1.10 – 2.06 GHz and 2.60 – 3.80 GHz during 2004 – 2006, we select 14 flare events which were associated with numerous fast microwave subsecond pulsating structures (period: P<0.5 s). In order to describe these subsecond pulsating structures comprehensively, we defined a set of observable parameters including emission frequency (f 0), bandwidth (b w), polarization degree (r), period (P), duration (D), modulation depth (M), quality factor (Q), single pulse frequency drifting rate (R spfd), global frequency drifting rate (R gfd), and symmetrical factor of the pulse profile (S). Then based on a detailed analysis of the spectrograms of the fast pulsations which occurred in one of these flares (an X3.4 flare/CME event occurred on 13 Dec. 2006), we discuss the possible relations among these observable parameters and their physical implications for the dynamical processes of solar eruptive events, and applied them to interpret the nature of the pulsations in the flare/CME event. Such study of microwave periodic pulsations provides us with a useful tool to probe the details of the flare kernels, and understand the physical mechanism of solar eruptive processes.

Correlation between the Sharp Variation of the Transport Rate of Magnetic Helicity and Solar Eruptive Events

In this Letter we report a close relationship between the variations of the transport rate of magnetic helicity (dH/dt) and a microwave burst. The latter may be regarded as a prompt signal of nonthermal energetic particles originating from the magnetic reconnection during solar flaring events. We analyze the observations of magnetograms of MDI/SOHO and SOT/Hinode and the high-cadence microwave observation at 2.84 GHz obtained by the Chinese Solar Broadband Radiospectrometer (SBRS/Huairou) of a flare/CME event that occurred in NOAA Active Region 10930 on 2006 December 13. We find that there is a sharp jump of dH/dt around the onset and quench of a microwave burst at a frequency of 2.84 GHz: the rate of dH/dt changes from negative to positive around the start of the eruption and recovers to negative when the eruption stopped. Furthermore, the temporal profile of dH/dt is consistent with that of a microwave burst. These results indicate that sharp variations of dH/dt are closely related to the solar eruption.

The Microwave Pulsations and the Tearing Modes in the Current‐Carrying Flare Loops

Solar microwave observations of the X3.4 Flare/CME event observed in Chinese solar broadband radiospectrometer (SBRS/Huairou) on 2006 December 13 show a series of very short period pulsations (VSP) with the period of <1.0 s in the frequency range of 2.60-3.80 GHz. Many pulsating events have the period of only several tens of milliseconds. These pulsations are quasi-periodic, broad bandwidth, and ubiquitous during all the phases of the flare/CME event. Based on theoretical analysis of the temporal behavior of the resistive tearing mode in the electric current-carrying flare loops, we propose that microwave pulsations are a result of the modulation of the tearing-mode oscillations in the current-carrying flare loops. Our calculation of the period of the tearing-mode oscillations are in good agreement with the observations.

A New Solar Broadband Radio Spectrometer (SBRS) in China

A new radio spectrometer, Solar Broadband Radio Spectrometer (SBRS) with characteristics of high time resolution, high-frequency resolution, high sensitivity, and wide frequency coverage in the microwave region is described. Its function is to monitor solar radio bursts in the frequency range of 0.7-7.6 GHz with time resolution of 1-10 ms. SBRS consists of five 'component spectrometers' which work in five different wave bands (0.7-1.5 GHz, 1.0-2.0 GHz, 2.6-3.8 GHz, 4.5-7.5 GHz, and 5.2-7.6 GHz, respectively). A combination of multi-channel and scanning techniques is adopted. The component spectrometers are attached to different antennas which are separately located at Beijing, Kunming, and Nanjing. Close attention was paid to solve the problems of sensitivity, dynamic range, interference-resistance, data acquisition, and handling a large amount of data. The SBRS was put into operation in the 23th solar maximum activity period, and has proved itself to be a valuable instrument for the study of solar bursts in microwaves.

A New Catalogue of Fine Structures Superimposed on Solar Microwave Bursts

The 2.6–3.8 GHz, 4.5–7.5 GHz, 5.2–7.6 GHz and 0.7–1.5 GHz component spectrometers of Solar Broadband Radio Spectrometer (SBRS) started routine observations, respectively, in late August 1996, August 1999, August 1999, and June 2000. They just managed to catch the coming 23rd solar active maximum. Consequently, a large amount of microwave burst data with high temporal and high spectral resolution and high sensitivity were obtained. A variety of fine structures (FS) superimposed on microwave bursts have been found. Some of them are known, such as microwave type III bursts, microwave spike emission, but these were observed with more detail; some are new. Reported for the first time here are microwave type U bursts with similar spectral morphology to those in decimetric and metric wavelengths, and with outstanding characteristics such as very short durations (tens to hundreds ms), narrow bandwidths, higher frequency drift rates and higher degrees of polarization. Type N and type M bursts were also observed. Detailed zebra pattern and fiber bursts at the high frequency were found. Drifting pulsation structure (DPS) phenomena closely associated with CME are considered to manifest the initial phase of the CME, and quasi-periodic pulsation with periods of tens ms have been recorded. Microwave ``patches", unlike those reported previously, were observed with very short durations (about 300 ms), very high flux densities (up to 1000 sfu), very high polarization (about 100% RCP), extremely narrow bandwidths (about 5%), and very high spectral indexes. These cannot be interpreted with the gyrosynchrotron process. A superfine structure in the form of microwave FS (ZPS, type U), consisting of microwave millisecond spike emission (MMS), was also found.