Hot X-ray Onsets of Solar Flares
| Autor: | Hudson, Hugh S., Simoes, Paulo J. A., Fletcher, Lyndsay, Hayes, Laura A., Hannah, Iain G. |
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| Rok vydání: | 2020 |
| Předmět: | |
| Druh dokumentu: | Working Paper |
| DOI: | 10.1093/mnras/staa3664 |
| Popis: | The study of the localized plasma conditions before the impulsive phase of a solar flare can help us understand the physical processes that occur leading up to the main flare energy release. Here, we present evidence of a hot X-ray onset interval of enhanced isothermal plasma temperatures in the range of 10-15~MK up to tens of seconds prior to the flare's impulsive phase. This `hot onset' interval occurs during the initial soft X-ray increase and prior to the detectable hard X-ray emission. The isothermal temperatures, estimated by the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) X-ray sensor, and confirmed with data from the Reuven Ramaty High Energy Solar Spectroscopic Imager (RHESSI), show no signs of gradual increase, and the `hot onset' phenomenon occurs regardless of flare classification or configuration. In a small sample of four representative flare events we identify this early hot onset soft X-ray emission mainly within footpoint and low-lying loops, rather than with coronal structures, based on images from the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA). We confirm this via limb occultation of a flaring region. These hot X-ray onsets appear before there is evidence of collisional heating by non-thermal electrons, and hence they challenge the standard flare heating modeling techniques. Comment: Submitted to MNRAS 6 July 2020 |
| Databáze: | arXiv |
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