No Arabic abstract
The first 48-antenna stage of the Siberian Radioheliograph (SRH) started single-frequency test observations early in 2016, and since August 2016 it routinely observes the Sun at several frequencies in the 4-8 GHz range with an angular resolution of 1-2 arc minutes and an imaging interval of about 12 seconds. With limited opportunities of the incomplete antenna configuration, a high sensitivity of about 100 Jy allows the SRH to contribute to the studies of eruptive phenomena along three lines. First, some eruptions are directly visible in SRH images. Second, some small eruptions are detectable even without a detailed imaging information from microwave depressions caused by screening the background emission by cool erupted plasma. Third, SRH observations reveal new aspects of some events to be studied with different instruments. We focus on an eruptive C2.2 flare on 16 March 2016 around 06:40, one of the first flares observed by the SRH. Proceeding from SRH observations, we analyze this event using extreme-ultraviolet, hard X-ray, white-light, and metric radio data. An eruptive prominence expanded, brightened, and twisted, which indicates a time-extended process of the flux-rope formation together with the development of a large coronal mass ejection (CME). The observations rule out a passive role of the prominence in the CME formation. The abrupt prominence eruption impulsively excited a blast-wave-like shock, which appeared during the microwave burst and was manifested in an EUV wave and Type II radio burst. The shock wave decayed and did not transform into a bow shock because of the low speed of the CME. Nevertheless, this event produced a clear proton enhancement near Earth. Comparison with our previous studies of several events confirms that the impulsive-piston shock-excitation scenario is typical of various events.
Regular observations of active processes in the solar atmosphere have been started using the first stage of the multiwave Siberian Radioheliograph (SRH), a T-shaped 48-antenna array with a 4-8 GHz operating frequency range and a 10 MHz instantaneous receiving band. Antennas are mounted on the central antenna posts of the Siberian Solar Radio Telescope. The maximum baseline is 107.4 m, and the angular resolution is up to 70. We present examples of observations of the solar disk at different frequencies, negative bursts, and solar flares. The sensitivity to compact sources reaches 0.01 solar flux units ($approx 10^{-4}$ of the total solar flux) with an accumulation time of about 0.3 s. The high sensitivity of SRH enables monitoring of solar activity and allows studying active processes from characteristics of their microwave emission, including faint events, which could not be detected previously.
The SOL2001-12-26 moderate solar eruptive event (GOES importance M7.1, microwaves up to 4000 sfu at 9.4 GHz, CME speed 1446 km/s) produced strong fluxes of solar energetic particles and ground-level enhancement of cosmic-ray intensity (GLE63). To find a possible reason for the atypically high proton outcome of this event, we study multi-wavelength images and dynamic radio spectra and quantitatively reconcile the findings with each other. An additional eruption probably occurred in the same active region about half an hour before the main eruption. The latter produced two blast-wave-like shocks during the impulsive phase. The two shock waves eventually merged around the radial direction into a single shock traced up to $25R_odot$ as a halo ahead of the expanding CME body, in agreement with an interplanetary Type II event recorded by the Radio and Plasma Wave Investigation (WAVES) experiment on the Wind spacecraft. The shape and kinematics of the halo indicate an intermediate regime of the shock between the blast wave and bow shock at these distances. The results show that i) the shock wave appeared during the flare rise and could accelerate particles earlier than usually assumed; ii) the particle event could be amplified by the preceding eruption, which stretched closed structures above the developing CME, facilitated its lift-off and escape of flare-accelerated particles, enabled a higher CME speed and stronger shock ahead; iii) escape of flare-accelerated particles could be additionally facilitated by reconnection of the flux rope, where they were trapped, with a large coronal hole; iv) the first eruption supplied a rich seed population accelerated by a trailing shock wave.
Type II radio bursts are evidence of shocks in the solar atmosphere and inner heliosphere that emit radio waves ranging from sub-meter to kilometer lengths. These shocks may be associated with CMEs and reach speeds higher than the local magnetosonic speed. Radio imaging of decameter wavelengths (20-90 MHz) is now possible with LOFAR, opening a new radio window in which to study coronal shocks that leave the inner solar corona and enter the interplanetary medium and to understand their association with CMEs. To this end, we study a coronal shock associated with a CME and type II radio burst to determine the locations at which the radio emission is generated, and we investigate the origin of the band-splitting phenomenon.
Major solar eruptive events (SEEs), consisting of both a large flare and a near simultaneous large fast coronal mass ejection (CME), are the most powerful explosions and also the most powerful and energetic particle accelerators in the solar system, producing solar energetic particles (SEPs) up to tens of GeV for ions and hundreds of MeV for electrons. The intense fluxes of escaping SEPs are a major hazard for humans in space and for spacecraft. Furthermore, the solar plasma ejected at high speed in the fast CME completely restructures the interplanetary medium (IPM) - major SEEs therefore produce the most extreme space weather in geospace, the interplanetary medium, and at other planets. Thus, understanding the flare/CME energy release process(es) and the related particle acceleration processes are major goals in Heliophysics. To make the next major breakthroughs, we propose a new mission concept, SEE 2020, a single spacecraft with a complement of advanced new instruments that focus directly on the coronal energy release and particle acceleration sites, and provide the detailed diagnostics of the magnetic fields, plasmas, mass motions, and energetic particles required to understand the fundamental physical processes involved.
We have evaluated the energetics of 38 solar eruptive events observed by a variety of spacecraft instruments between February 2002 and December 2006, as accurately as the observations allow. The measured energetic components include: (1) the radiated energy in the GOES 1 - 8 A band; (2) the total energy radiated from the soft X-ray (SXR) emitting plasma; (3) the peak energy in the SXR-emitting plasma; (4) the bolometric radiated energy over the full duration of the event; (5) the energy in flare-accelerated electrons above 20 keV and in flare-accelerated ions above 1 MeV; (6) the kinetic and potential energies of the coronal mass ejection (CME); (7) the energy in solar energetic particles (SEPs) observed in interplanetary space; and (8) the amount of free (nonpotential) magnetic energy estimated to be available in the pertinent active region. Major conclusions include: (1) the energy radiated by the SXR-emitting plasma exceeds, by about half an order of magnitude, the peak energy content of the thermal plasma that produces this radiation; (2) the energy content in flare-accelerated electrons and ions is sufficient to supply the bolometric energy radiated across all wavelengths throughout the event; (3) the energy contents of flare-accelerated electrons and ions are comparable; (4) the energy in SEPs is typically a few percent of the CME kinetic energy (measured in the rest frame of the solar wind); and (5) the available magnetic energy is sufficient to power the CME, the flare-accelerated particles, and the hot thermal plasma.