EMPIRICAL DETERMINATION OF THE ENERGY LOSS RATE OF ACCELERATED ELECTRONS IN A WELL-OBSERVED SOLAR FLARE

Journal Article · Fri Jun 01 00:00:00 EDT 2012 · Astrophysical Journal

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/751/2/129· OSTI ID:22037156

Torre, Gabriele; Pinamonti, Nicola; Guo, Jingnan; Piana, Michele ^[1]; Emslie, A Gordon ^[2]

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1. Dipartimento di Matematica, Universita di Genova, Genova, via Dodecaneso 35, 16146 Genova (Italy)
2. Department of Physics and Astronomy, Western Kentucky University, Bowling Green, KY 42101 (United States)

We present electron images of an extended solar flare source, deduced from RHESSI hard X-ray imaging spectroscopy data. We apply the electron continuity equation to these maps in order to determine empirically the form of the energy loss rate for the bremsstrahlung-emitting electrons. We show that this form is consistent with an energy transport model involving Coulomb collisions in a target with a temperature of about 2 Multiplication-Sign 10{sup 7} K, with a continuous injection of fresh deka-keV electrons at a rate of approximately 10{sup -2} electrons s{sup -1} per ambient electron.

• OSTI ID: 22037156
• Journal Information: Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 751, Issue 2; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0004-637X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

79 ASTROPHYSICS
COSMOLOGY AND ASTRONOMY
ASTRONOMY
ASTROPHYSICS
BREMSSTRAHLUNG
CONTINUITY EQUATIONS
ELECTRON COLLISIONS
ELECTRONS
ENERGY LOSSES
GAMMA RADIATION
HARD X RADIATION
IMAGES
ION COLLISIONS
KEV RANGE
SOLAR FLARES
SUN
X-RAY SPECTROSCOPY