Solar Flare Loops Observations And Interpretations

This book provides results of analysis of typical solar events, statistical analysis, the diagnostics of energetic electrons and magnetic field, as well as the global behavior of solar flaring loops such as their contraction and expansion. It pays particular attention to analyzing solar flare loops with microwave, hard X-ray, optical and EUV emissions, as well as the theories of their radiation, and electron acceleration/transport. The results concerning influence of the pitch-angle anisotropy of non-thermal electrons on their microwave and hard X-ray emissions, new spectral behaviors in X-ray and microwave bands, and results related to the contraction of flaring loops, are widely discussed in the literature of solar physics. The book is useful for graduate students and researchers in solar and space physics.

In this volume we compare modem observations of solar flares with results from recent theoretical research and simulation studies on current-carrying loops and their interaction. These topics have undergone rapid developments in the course of recent years. Observational results by X-ray monitoring and imaging spacecraft in the seventies and by dedicated imaging instrumentation in the satellites Solar Max imum Mission and Hinotori, launched 1980 and 1981, have shown the importance of X-ray imaging for understanding the ignition processes of solar flares. Such observations, in tum, stimulated theoretical studies, centered around the flux-tube concept. The classical idea that flares originate by interaction of current-carrying loops was developed and proved to be promising. Concepts on reconnection and coalescence of flux tubes were developed, and their consequences studied. The Yohkoh spacecraft, launched 1991, showed the overwhelming importance of coro nal flux tubes and their many possible ways of interaction. Subsequent and parallel theoretical studies and simulations, differentiating between the topology of interact ing fluxtubes, demonstrated that the mutual positioning and the way of interaction are important for the subsequent processes of energy release in flares and the many associated phenomena such as the expUlsion of jets and the emission of X -ray and microwave radiation. The new developments now enable researchers to understand and classify flares in a physically significant way. Various processes of accelera tion are active in and after flares on greatly varying timescales; these can now be distinguished and explained.

Various aspects of solar flares such as dynamic phenomena, the relation to magnetic fields, electromagnetic radiations, particle emissions, and flare loops are discussed with attempts at classification in terms of observable effects. Discrepancies in defining the mechanisms that must exist stress the need for further observations. (Author).

A comprehensive account of the properties of plasma loops, the fundamental structural elements of the solar corona. Plasma loops cover a wide range of sizes and range in temperature from tens of thousands to millions of degrees. They not only define the structure of individual active regions but connect different active regions--even across the solar equator. Loops also play an integral and decisive role in the enormous solar explosions called flares. Over recent years a wealth of space and ground-based observations of loops has been obtained in various widely-spaced regions of the electromagnetic spectrum. In this book the authors have selected the best observational material from the literature on which to base a detailed account of the properties of flare and non-flare loops. The book also explores the larger implications of the loop structures for our understanding of solar and stellar coronae. The text is enhanced by a large number of illustrations and unique and beautiful photographs obtained from the ground and from space.

In this volume we compare modem observations of solar flares with results from recent theoretical research and simulation studies on current-carrying loops and their interaction. These topics have undergone rapid developments in the course of recent years. Observational results by X-ray monitoring and imaging spacecraft in the seventies and by dedicated imaging instrumentation in the satellites Solar Max imum Mission and Hinotori, launched 1980 and 1981, have shown the importance of X-ray imaging for understanding the ignition processes of solar flares. Such observations, in tum, stimulated theoretical studies, centered around the flux-tube concept. The classical idea that flares originate by interaction of current-carrying loops was developed and proved to be promising. Concepts on reconnection and coalescence of flux tubes were developed, and their consequences studied. The Yohkoh spacecraft, launched 1991, showed the overwhelming importance of coro nal flux tubes and their many possible ways of interaction. Subsequent and parallel theoretical studies and simulations, differentiating between the topology of interact ing fluxtubes, demonstrated that the mutual positioning and the way of interaction are important for the subsequent processes of energy release in flares and the many associated phenomena such as the expUlsion of jets and the emission of X -ray and microwave radiation. The new developments now enable researchers to understand and classify flares in a physically significant way. Various processes of accelera tion are active in and after flares on greatly varying timescales; these can now be distinguished and explained.

Proceedings of the Monterey Workshop, held in Monterey, California, August 1999

Over the last decade we entered a new exploration phase of solar flare physics, equipped with powerful spacecraft such as Yohkoh, SoHO, and TRACE that pro vide us detail-rich and high-resolution images of solar flares in soft X-rays, hard X -rays, and extreme-ultraviolet wavelengths. Moreover, the large-area and high sensitivity detectors on the Compton GRO spacecraft recorded an unprecedented number of high-energy photons from solar flares that surpasses all detected high energy sources taken together from the rest of the universe, for which CGRO was mainly designed to explore. However, morphological descriptions of these beau tiful pictures and statistical catalogs of these huge archives of solar data would not convey us much understanding of the underlying physics, if we would not set out to quantify physical parameters from these data and would not subject these measurements to theoretical models. Historically, there has always been an unsatisfactory gap between traditional astronomy that dutifully describes the mor phology of observations, and the newer approach of astrophysics, which starts with physical concepts from first principles and analyzes astronomical data with the goal to confirm or disprove theoretical models. In this review we attempt to bridge this yawning gap and aim to present the recent developments in solar flare high-energy physics from a physical point of view, structuring the observations and analysis results according to physical processes, such as particle acceleration, propagation, energy loss, kinematics, and radiation signatures.