X-ray Emission In Solar Flares Research Articles

Efficiency of solar microflares in accelerating electrons when rooted in a sunspot

Context. The spectral shape of the X-ray emission in solar flares varies with the event size, with small flares generally exhibiting softer spectra than large events, indicative of a relatively lower number of accelerated electrons at higher energies. Aims. We investigate two microflares of GOES classes A9 and C1 (after background subtraction) observed by STIX onboard Solar Orbiter with exceptionally strong nonthermal emission. We complement the hard X-ray imaging and spectral analysis by STIX with co-temporal observations in the (E)UV and visual range by AIA and HMI to investigate what makes these microflares so efficient in high-energy particle acceleration. Methods. We made a preselection of events in the STIX flare catalog based on the ratio of the thermal to nonthermal quicklook X-ray emission. The STIX spectrogram science data were used to perform spectral fitting to identify the non-thermal and thermal components. The STIX X-ray images were reconstructed to analyze the spatial distribution of the precipitating electrons and the hard X-ray emission they produce. The EUV images from SDO/AIA and SDO/HMI LOS magnetograms were analyzed to better understand the magnetic environment and the chromospheric and coronal response. For the A9 event, EOVSA microwave observations were available, allowing for image reconstruction in the radio domain. Results. We performed case studies of two microflares observed by STIX on October 11, 2021 and November 10, 2022, which showed unusually hard microflare X-ray spectra with power-law indices of the electron flux distributions of δ = (2.98 ± 0.25) and δ = (4.08 ± 0.23), during their non-thermal peaks and photon energies up to 76 keV and 50 keV, respectively. For both events under study, we found that one footpoint is located within a sunspot covering areas with mean magnetic flux densities in excess of 1500 G, suggesting that the hard electron spectra are caused by the strong magnetic fields the flare loops are rooted in. Additionally, we revisited a previously published unusually hard RHESSI microflare and found that in this event, there was also one flare kernel located within a sunspot, which corroborates the result from the two hard STIX microflares under study in this work. Conclusions. The characteristics of the strong photospheric magnetic fields inside the sunspot umbrae and penumbrae where flare loops are rooted play an important role in the generation of exceptionally hard X-ray spectra in these microflares.

Self-organized criticality in solar GeV flares

ABSTRACT The Sun emits significant flares in X-ray, ultraviolet, and radio wavelengths. It is thought to originate from the magnetic reconnection activity, which is capable of accelerating particles to high energies. The magnetic process can be described by the avalanche model of self-organized criticality (SOC), and it is evidenced by the observation. Here, we study the frequency distribution of fluence, peak flux, and duration time for solar GeV flares detected first by Fermi-Large Area Telescope. Their cumulative distributions show a power-law behaviour. The exponents are also consistent with those derived from the observations at low-energy bands, and follow the predictions of the fractal-diffuse SOC model. In the meantime, the waiting time shows power-law distribution, and agrees a non-stationary Poission process. We then explore the correlation between energy (fluence) and duration time using a two-variable regression analysis. The correlation is found to be $T_{\rm Duration} \propto F_{\rm GeV}^{0.38\pm 0.08}$ with the solar GeV flare sample, which is comparable to that of the solar X-ray flares and gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) and could be understood in an SOC model. These facts suggest that, similar to the physical process accounting for the X-ray emission of solar flares and prompt emission of GRBs, magnetic reconnection may still dominate the energy-release process and particle acceleration for solar flares at GeV energies.

The Variation of the X-ray Solar Flare’s Time Profile

We have studied the variation of the time profile of X-ray emission of solar flares that occurred during the second half of solar cycle 23 (SC 23) and for about the full solar cycle 24 (SC 24) (2002–2018). We define a new index, called the “ratio index” (Rf), for all X-ray solar flares. This index is defined as the ratio of the flare’s rising time interval by its total duration period. According to the ratio index, the X-ray solar flares are classified into two types: (1) sudden flares [Rf < 0.5], and (2) gradual flares [Rf > 0.5]. The sudden flare type, with fast-rising and slow recovery, is more common and represents most of the flares that happen most of the time during the solar cycles but are less common during the minimum solar activity years. On the other hand, the gradual flare type (or Rf > 0.5) is less common but predominates during the minimum solar activity epochs. Sudden flares tend to be strong, large, and numerous in the polar regions, while gradual flares are weak, short, and countable in the latitude range between 50 and 70, both for northern and southern latitudes. However, both types appear to happen in the lower latitudes and the solar equatorial regions.

On Thermal Runaway Electrons and the Polarization of X-ray Emission in Solar Flares

A model for the thermal runaway of electrons in solar flares based on an approximate analytical solution of the kinetic equation with a linearized Landau collision integral is considered. Coulomb collisions are shown to make the flux of runaway electrons with a very high temperature nearly isotropic. The derived electron distribution function is used to estimate the polarization of the hard X-ray bremsstrahlung of solar flares. Since the anisotropy of the flux of electrons is low, the polarization of their bremsstrahlung does not exceed 3–4% at an energy of about 15 keV, which creates great difficulties for future extra-atmospheric polarization observations. Furthermore, the Compton scattering of hard X-ray emission by the photosphere and magnetic field inhomogeneity can severely distort the expected results and can make their interpretation difficult. The prospects for space experiments to measure the polarization of the hard X-ray emission from solar flares are discussed.

The contribution of the albedo for photons to the intensity of hard X-ray emission of solar flares

The albedo contribution to the total hard X-ray solar-flare emission has been considered. First, the distribution of primary hard X-ray photons localized along the flare loop was found, and finally, the Monte Carlo calculations of the Compton scattered hard X-ray photons were performed. The albedo for photons was shown to contribute to the total X-ray flux only in the energy range from 30 to 100 keV. The backscattered photon flux depends on the loop's position and on the localization of the source of primary radiation along the loop. For an isotropic distribution of primary photons, the backscattered photons’ contribution to the total flux is maximal for the loop in the center of the Sun and reduces when shifting to a limb. In the case of an anisotropic source the angle at which the contribution is maximal depends on the degree of anisotropy and on X-ray directivity in the source.

Hard X-Ray Emission of Solar Flares Measured by Lomonosov Space Mission

AbstractSolar hard X-ray and gamma-ray emission was measured by BDRG instrument, the part of set of instruments operated on board the Russian satellite Lomonosov from April 2016 until now (solar-synchronous orbit with altitude 490 km, inclination of 97.6 degrees). Lomonosov measurements (11 flares with the X-ray energy more than 10 keV, and more than half of them have class in soft X-rays less than C2) were compared to the data obtained by RHESSI and Fermi space observatories as well as the Nobeyama Radioheliograph operating at the same time. The quasi-periodicity with different periods were found in some of them.

On the power-law distributions of X-ray fluxes from solar flares observed with GOES

The power-law frequency distributions of the peak flux of solar flare X-ray emission have been studied extensively and attributed to a system having self-organized criticality (SOC). In this paper, we first show that, so long as the shape of the normalized light curve is not correlated with the peak flux, the flux histogram of solar flares also follows a power-law distribution with the same spectral index as the power-law frequency distribution of the peak flux, which may partially explain why power-law distributions are ubiquitous in the Universe. We then show that the spectral indexes of the histograms of soft X-ray fluxes observed by GOES satellites in two different energy channels are different: the higher energy channel has a harder distribution than the lower energy channel, which challenges the universal power-law distribution predicted by SOC models and implies a very soft distribution of thermal energy content of plasmas probed by the GOES satellites. The temperature (T) distribution, on the other hand, approaches a power-law distribution with an index of 2 for high values of T. Hence the application of SOC models to the statistical properties of solar flares needs to be revisited.

Statistical Properties of Soft X-ray Fluxes of Solar Flares

In order to quantitatively study the statistical properties of the soft X-ray emission in solar flares, an algorithm has been developed to automatically detect flares in a given range of peak fluxes, and to analyze the flares observed by the GOESs (Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites) from 1980 to 2013 in two soft X-ray bands. This study indicates that the statistical characteristics of the variation of flare soft X-ray flux near the peak time are independent to the magnitude of peak flux: on the average, the rising time of flare's soft X-ray flux is about half of the decay time, and the rising and decay times in the high-energy channel are shorter than the corresponding times in the low-energy channel, however, all these times will increase with the variation amplitude of flare's soft X-ray flux.

Investigation on spectral behavior of Solar transients and their interrelationship

We probe the spectral hardening of solar flares emission in view of associated solar proton events (SEPs) at earth and coronal mass ejection (CME) acceleration as a consequence. In this investigation we undertake 60 SEPs of the Solar Cycle 23 along with associated Solar Flares and CMEs. We employ the X-ray emission in Solar flares observed by Reuven Ramaty Higly Energy Solar Spectroscopic Imager (RHESSI) in order to estimate flare plasma parameters. Further, we employ the observations from Geo-stationary Operational Environmental Satellites (GOES) and Large Angle and Spectrometric Coronagraph (LASCO), for SEPs and CMEs parameter estimation respectively. We report a good association of soft-hard-harder (SHH) spectral behavior of Flares with occurrence of Solar Proton Events for 16 Events (observed by RHESSI associated with protons). In addition, we have found a good correlation (R=0.71) in SEPs spectral hardening and CME velocity. We conclude that the Protons as well as CMEs gets accelerated at the Flare site and travel all the way in interplanetary space and then by re-acceleration in interplanetary space CMEs produce Geomagnetic Storms in geospace. This seems to be a statistically significant mechanism of the SEPs and initial CME acceleration in addition to the standard scenario of SEP acceleration at the shock front of CMEs.

Effect of Collisions and Magnetic Convergence on Electron Acceleration and Transport in Reconnecting Twisted Solar Flare Loops

We study a model of particle acceleration coupled with an MHD model of magnetic reconnection in unstable twisted coronal loops. The kink instability leads to the formation of helical currents with strong parallel electric fields resulting in electron acceleration. The motion of electrons in the electric and magnetic fields of the reconnecting loop is investigated using a test-particle approach taking into account collisional scattering. We discuss the effects of Coulomb collisions and magnetic convergence near loop footpoints on the spatial distribution and energy spectra of high-energy electron populations and possible implications on the hard X-ray emission in solar flares.

THE THERMAL PROPERTIES OF SOLAR FLARES OVER THREE SOLAR CYCLES USING GOES X-RAY OBSERVATIONS

Solar flare X-ray emission results from rapidly increasing temperatures and emission measures in flaring active region loops. To date, observations from the X-Ray Sensor (XRS) onboard the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) have been used to derive these properties, but have been limited by a number of factors, including the lack of a consistent background subtraction method capable of being automatically applied to large numbers of flares. In this paper, we describe an automated temperature and emission measure-based background subtraction method (TEBBS), which builds on the methods of Bornmann (1990). Our algorithm ensures that the derived temperature is always greater than the instrumental limit and the pre-flare background temperature, and that the temperature and emission measure are increasing during the flare rise phase. Additionally, TEBBS utilizes the improved estimates of GOES temperatures and emission measures from White et al. (2005). TEBBS was successfully applied to over 50,000 solar flares occurring over nearly three solar cycles (1980-2007), and used to create an extensive catalog of the solar flare thermal properties. We confirm that the peak emission measure and total radiative losses scale with background subtracted GOES X-ray flux as power-laws, while the peak temperature scales logarithmically. As expected, the peak emission measure shows an increasing trend with peak temperature, although the total radiative losses do not. While these results are comparable to previous studies, we find that flares of a given GOES class have lower peak temperatures and higher peak emission measures than previously reported. The resulting TEBBS database of thermal flare plasma properties is publicly available on Solar Monitor (www.solarmonitor.org/TEBBS/) and will be available on Heliophysics Integrated Observatory (www.helio-vo.eu).

Electron acceleration during three-dimensional relaxation of an electron beam-return current plasma system in a magnetic field

We investigate the effects of acceleration during non-linear electron-beam relaxation in magnetized plasma in the case of electron transport in solar flares. The evolution of electron distribution functions is computed using a three-dimensional particle-in-cell electromagnetic code. Analytical estimations under simplified assumptions are made to provide comparisons. We show that, during the non-linear evolution of the beam-plasma system, the accelerated electron population appears. We found that, although the electron beam loses its energy efficiently to the thermal plasma, a noticeable part of the electron population is accelerated. For model cases with initially monoenergetic beams in uniform plasma, we found that the amount of energy in the accelerated electrons above the injected beam-electron energy varies depending the plasma conditions and could be around 10-30% of the initial beam energy. This type of acceleration could be important for the interpretation of non-thermal electron populations in solar flares. Its neglect could lead to the over-estimation of accelerated electron numbers. The results emphasize that collective plasma effects should not be treated simply as an additional energy-loss mechanism, when hard X-ray emission in solar flares is interpreted, notably in the case of RHESSI data.

Quasi-periodic oscillations in solar X-ray sources

AbstractWe have searched for quasi-periodic oscillations in the hard X-ray emission of solar flares. We have selected 14 flare events which were divided into two groups: a) the events with the X-ray sources located at the flare loop footpoints and b) the events with the X-ray source above the solar limb, i.e. with the loop-top X-ray source. We found that while in the case with the footpoints X-ray sources the quasi-periods of the recorded oscillations were in the interval 2–380 s, in the events with loop-top sources only the quasi-periods longer than 50 s were recognized. These results are probably connected with the MHD oscillation modes of the flaring loop. While the long periods, which are dominant in loop-top sources, are produced by acoustic oscillations along the whole long loop, in the layers close to the loop footpoints also the MHD wave modes in shorter structures with shorter periods are generated.

10.1007/s11208-008-2008-6

The results of the statistical analysis of the GOES data related to the length of the period, during which the X-ray emission of solar flares increases, provide reliable grounds for the objective distinction of different types, sometimes referred to in the literature as typical and nontypical for bimodal classification. The events may be also partitioned into three (“impulsive”, “typical”, and “long duration”) or more “types”. These “types” should be separated from statistical fluctuations in the case of rare events. When the number of analyzed events increases, these fluctuations are gradually smoothed and become less significant, and the distribution of flares according to the duration of their growth is, on the whole, well described by the single lognormal law.

Time structure and energy spectrum evolution of the solar flare X-rays measured by the IRIS spectrometer onboard the CORONAS-F spacecraft

The time structure and energy spectrum evolution of the X-ray emission of solar flares, observed by the IRIS spectrometer onboard the CORONAS-F spacecraft, are investigated. It has been found out that one or two quasi-periodic components with periods of 1–20 s, which are absent in the background preflare emission, appear in the flare soft X rays. It has been indicated that the variation in the shape of the energetic spectra of the C-class flare hard X rays reflects the evolution of the accelerated electron distribution function.

Kappa distribution and hard X-ray emission of solar flares

<i>Aims. <i/>We investigate whether the so-called kappa distribution, often used to fit electron distributions detected in situ in the solar wind, can describe electrons producing the hard X-ray emission in solar flares.<i>Methods. <i/>Using Ramaty High Energy Solar Spectroscopic imager (RHESSI) flare data we fit spatially- and feature-integrated spectra, assuming a kappa distribution for the mean electron flux spectrum.<i>Results. <i/>We show that a single kappa distribution generally cannot describe spatially integrated X-ray emission composed of both footpoint and coronal sources. In contrast, the kappa distribution is consistent with mean electron spectra producing hard X-ray emission in some coronal sources.

Statistical distributions and classification of X-ray flares according to their duration on the sun

The results of the statistical analysis of the GOES data related to the length of the period, during which the X-ray emission of solar flares increases, provide reliable grounds for the objective distinction of different types, sometimes referred to in the literature as typical and nontypical for bimodal classification. The events may be also partitioned into three (“impulsive”, “typical”, and “long duration”) or more “types”. These “types” should be separated from statistical fluctuations in the case of rare events. When the number of analyzed events increases, these fluctuations are gradually smoothed and become less significant, and the distribution of flares according to the duration of their growth is, on the whole, well described by the single lognormal law.

The correlation between soft and hard X-rays component in flares: from the Sun to the stars

Aims.We study the correlation between the soft (1.6–12.4 keV, mostly thermal) and the hard (20–40 and 60–80 keV, mostly non-thermal) X-ray emission in solar flares up to the most energetic events, spanning about 4 orders of magnitude in peak flux, establishing a general scaling law and extending it to the most intense stellar flaring events observed to date.

Extreme ultraviolet and X-ray emission of solar flares as observed from the CORONAS-F spacecraft in 2001–2003

The results of measuring UV radiation onboard the CORONAS-F spacecraft during solar flares in 2001–2003 are considered. Some conclusions from the analysis of variations of solar-flare emission in several spectral intervals, namely, in soft X-rays, in the 10-to 130-nm range, and in the band near 120 nm, are discussed. The data were obtained by the VUSS-L and SUFR instruments. Time and energy characteristics of flares recorded onboard the CORONAS-F spacecraft are compared to the GOES measurements in the interval 0.1–0.8 nm and to the SOHO measurements of UV radiation in the 26-to 34-nm band. In particular, it is demonstrated that UV radiation is generated several (1–10) minutes before X-ray emission for most flares considered in the study. It is shown that the energy of flare emission in the extreme ultraviolet is usually not greater than ∼10% of its preflare level and that energy fluxes in different wavelength ranges are related by a power law. Such an analysis makes it possible to better understand the mechanism of flare development.

Relating magnetic field strengths to hard X-ray emission in solar flares

The observation of hard X-ray (HXR) emission in solar flares provides important diagnostic information about the acceleration and subsequent transport of energetic electrons in the flare process. However, while hard X-rays are thought to be emitted from the flare footpoints through thick-target bremsstrahlung interactions, the details of the transport of accelerated electrons through the solar atmosphere still remains unclear. Trapping of the electrons is one particular effect that is expected to occur as a result of the convergence of the magnetic field between the corona and the chromosphere. In this case the brightness of the HXR footpoints should be related to the strength of the magnetic field present and we would expect greater precipitation and higher HXR intensities at the footpoints with lower magnetic field strength. This relationship has been observed to hold in many flares (see Sakao 1994) but interestingly the opposite relationship, where the stronger HXR source is found at the stronger magnetic field region, has also been observed in an event studied by Asai et al. (2002). Using Data from Yohkoh's Hard X-Ray Telescope (HXT) and SOHO's Michelson Doppler Imager (MDI) we have studied the magnetic field strengths at the footpoints of a sample of 32 flares and have compared them to the hard X-ray brightness to determine whether the expected ratios are seen. We find that contrary to the expected relationship the brighter HXR footpoint is found in the region of stronger magnetic field in approximately one third of our sample of events. We discuss the implications of these results in terms of the transport mechanisms.