HARD X-RAY AND ULTRAVIOLET EMISSION DURING THE 2011 JUNE 7 SOLAR FLARE
- Solar Physics Laboratory, Heliophysics Science Division, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771 (United States)
The relationship between X-ray and UV emission during flares, particularly in the context of quasi-periodic pulsations, remains unclear. To address this, we study the impulsive X-ray and UV emission during an eruptive flare on 2011 June 7 utilizing X-ray imaging from RHESSI and UV 1700 Å imaging from SDO/AIA. This event is associated with quasi-periodic pulsations in X-ray and possibly UV emission, as well as substantial parallel and perpendicular motion in the hard X-ray footpoints. The motion of the footpoints parallel to the flare ribbons is unusual; it reverses direction on at least two occasions. However, there is no associated short timescale motion of the UV bright regions. Over the same time interval, the footpoints also gradually move apart at v ≈ 12 km s{sup –1}, consistent with the gradual outward expansion of the UV ribbons and the standard flare model. Additionally, we find that the locations of the brightest X-ray and UV regions are different, particularly during the early portion of the flare impulsive phase, despite their integrated emission being strongly correlated in time. Correlation analysis of measured flare properties, such as the footpoint separation, flare shear, photospheric magnetic field, and coronal reconnection rate, reveals that—in the impulsive phase—the 25-50 keV hard X-ray flux is only weakly correlated with these properties, in contrast with previous studies. We characterize this event in terms of long-term behavior, where the X-ray non-thermal, thermal, and UV emission sources appear temporally and spatially consistent, and short-term behavior, where the emission sources are inconsistent and quasi-periodic pulsations are a dominant feature requiring explanation. We suggest that the short timescale behavior of hard X-ray footpoints and the nature of the observed quasi-periodic pulsations are determined by fundamental, as yet unobserved properties of the reconnection region and particle acceleration sites. This presents a challenge for current three-dimensional flare reconnection models.
- OSTI ID:
- 22270690
- Journal Information:
- Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 777, Issue 1; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0004-637X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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