Correction of the temperature effect in calibration of a solar radio telescope

This work analyzes the annual fluctuation of the observation data of the Mingantu Solar radio Telescope(MST)in S,C and X bands.It is found that the data vary with local air temperature as the logarithmic attenuation of equipment increases with temperature and frequency.A simplified and effective calibration method is proposed,which is used to calibrate the MST data in 2018-2020,while the correction coefficients are calculated from data in 2018-2019.For S,C and X bands,the root mean square errors of one polarization are 2.7,5.7 and 20 sfu,and the relative errors are 4%,6%and 8%respectively.The calibration of MUSER and SBRS spectra is also performed.The relative errors of MUSER at 1700 MHz,SBRS at 2800 MHz,3050 MHz and 3350 MHz are 8%,8%,11%and 10%respectively.We found that several factors may affect the calibration accuracy,especially at X-band.The method is expected to work for other radio telescopes with similar design.

Observational results of MUSER during 2014–2019

The solar radio signal that can be received by the ground-based telescopes covers a wide frequency range,allowing us to monitor the complex physical processes occurred from the solar surface to the vast interplanetary space.MingantU SpEctral Radioheliograph(MUSER),as the latest generation of solar dedicated radio spectral-imaging instrument in the centimeter-decimeter wavelengths,has accumulated a large number of observational data since its commissioning observation in 2014.This paper presents the main observational results identified by MUSER from 2014 to 2019,including the quiet Sun and 94 solar radio burst events.We find that there are 81 events accompanied with Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites(GOES)soft X-ray(SXR)flares,among which the smallest flare class is B1.0.There are 13 events without accompanying any recorded flares,among which the smallest SXR intensity during the radio burst period is equivalent to level-A.The main characteristics of all radio burst events are presented,which shows the powerful ability of MUSER to capture the valuable information of the solar non-thermal processes and the importance for space weather.This work also provides a database for further in-depth research.

Evolvement of microwave spike bursts in a solar flare on 2006 December 13

Solar radio spikes are one of the most intriguing spectral types of radio bursts.Their very short lifetimes,small source size and super-high brightness temperature indicate that they should be involved in some strong energy release,particle acceleration and coherent emission processes closely related to solar flares.In particular,for the microwave spike bursts,their source regions are much close to the related flaring source region which may provide the fundamental information of the flaring process.In this work,we identify more than 600 millisecond microwave spikes which recorded by the Solar Broadband Radio Spectrometer in Huairou(SBRS/Huairou)during an X3.4 solar flare on 2006 December 13 and present a statistical analysis about their parametric evolution characteristic.We find that the spikes have nearly the same probability of positive and negative frequency drifting rates not only in the flare rising phase,but also in the peak and decay phases.So we suppose that the microwave spike bursts should be generated by shockaccelerated energetic electrons,just like the terminational shock(TS)wave produced by the reconnection outflows near the loop top.The spike bursts occurred around the peak phase have the highest central frequency and obviously weak emission intensity,which imply that their source region should have the lowest position with higher plasma density due to the weakened magnetic reconnection and the relaxation of TS during the peak phase.The right-handed polarization of the most spike bursts may be due to the TS lying on the top region of some very asymmetrical flare loops.

Solar Radio Bursts in the Period Oct. 22-Nov. 4, 2003

A series of solar radio bursts were observed in AR NOAA 10486 with the SolarBroadband (1.1-7.6 GHz) Radio Spectrometers (SBRS of China). Here we analyze four significant eventsassociated with CME events and strong X-ray flares that occurred on 2003 October 22, 26, 27, 29.The Oct. 26 event is a long duration event (LDE) with drift pulsation structure (DPS), narrowbanddm-burst (DCIM), and more than seven types of Fine Structures (FSs); its time of the maximum flux(07:30 UT) is about half an hour later than the X-flare (06:54 UT).

A New Solar Radio Spectrometer at 1.10-2.06 GHz and First Observational Results

An improved Solar Radio Spectrometer working at 1.10-2.06 GHz with much improved spectral and temporal resolution, has been accomplished by the National Astronomical Observatories and Hebei Semiconductor Research Institute,based on an old spectrometer at 1 2 GHz. The new spectrometer has a spectral resolution of 4 MHz and a temporal resolution of 5 ms, with an instantaneous detectable range from 0.02 to 10 times of the quiet Sun flux. It can measure both left and right circular polarization with an accuracy of 10% in degree of polarization. Some results of preliminary observations that could not be recorded by the old spectrometer at 1-2 GHz are presented.

Flare evolution and polarization changes in fine structures of solar radio emission in the 2013 April 11 event

The measurement of positions and sizes of radio sources in observations is important for un- derstanding of the flare evolution. For the first time, solar radio spectral fine structures in an M6.5 flare that occurred on 2013 April 11 were observed simultaneously by several radio instruments at four different observatories： Chinese Solar Broadband Radio Spectrometer at Huairou （SBRS/Huairou）, Ondrejov Radio Spectrograph in the Czech Republic （ORSC/Ondrejov）, Badary Broadband Microwave Spectropolarimeter （BMS/Irkutsk）, and spectrograph/IZMIRAN （Moscow, Troitsk）. The fine structures included microwave zebra patterns （ZPs）, fast pulsations and fiber bursts. They were observed during the flare brightening lo- cated at the tops of a loop arcade as shown in images taken by the extreme ultraviolet （EUV） telescope onboard NASA＇s satellite Solar Dynamics Observatory （SDO）. The flare occurred at 06：58-07：26 UT in solar active region NOAA 11719 located close to the solar disk center. ZPs appeared near high frequency boundaries of the pulsations, and their spectra observed in Huairou and Ondrejov agreed with each other in terms of details. At the beginning of the flare＇s impulsive phase, a strong narrowband ZP burst occurred with a moderate left-handed circular polarization. Then a series of pulsations and ZPs were observed in almost unpolarized emission. After 07：00 UT a ZP appeared with a moderate right-handed polarization. In the flare decay phase （at about 07：25 UT）, ZPs and fiber bursts become strongly right-hand polarized. BMS/Irkutsk spectral observations indicated that the background emission showed a left-handed circular polarization （similar to SBRS/Huairou spectra around 3 GHz）. However, the fine structure appeared in the right-handed polarization. The dynamics of the polarization was associated with the motion of the flare ex- citer, which was observed in EUV images at 171 A and 131 A by the SDO Atmospheric Imaging Assembly （AIA）. Combining magnetograms observed by the SDO Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager （HMI） with the homologous assumption of EUV flare brightenings and ZP bursts, we deduced that the observed ZPs correspond to the ordinary radio emission mode. However, future analysis needs to verify the assumption that zebra radio sources are really related to a closed magnetic loop, and are located at lower heights in the solar atmosphere than the source of pulsations.

Energy and spectral analysis of confined solar flares from radio and X-ray observations

The energy and spectral shape of radio bursts may help us understand the generation mechanism of solar eruptions,including solar flares,coronal mass ejections,eruptive filaments,and various scales of jets.The different kinds of flares may have different characteristics of energy and spectral distribution.In this work,we selected 10 mostly confined flare events during October 2014 to investigate their overall spectral behaviour and the energy emitted in microwaves by using radio observations from microwaves to interplanetary radio waves,and X-ray observations of GOES,RHESSI,and Fermi/GBM.We found that:all the confined flare events were associated with a microwave continuum burst extending to frequencies of9.4~15.4 GHz,and the peak frequencies of all confined flare events are higher than 4.995 GHz and lower than or equal to 17 GHz.The median value is around 9 GHz.The microwave burst energy(or nuence)and the peak frequency are found to provide useful criteria to estimate the power of solar flares.The observations imply that the magnetic field in confined flares tends to be stronger than that in 412 flares studied by Nita et al.(2004).All 10 events studied did not produce detectable hard X-rays with energies above~300 keV indicating the lack of efficient acceleration of electrons to high energies in the confined flares.

Radio observations of the fine structure inside a post-CME current sheet

A solar radio burst was observed in a coronal mass ejection/flare event by the Solar Broadband Radio Spectrometer at the Huairou Solar Observing Station on2004 December 1. The data exhibited various patterns of plasma motions, suggestive of the interaction between sunward moving plasmoids and the flare loop system during the impulsive phase of the event. In addition to the radio data, the associated whitelight, Hα, extreme ultraviolet light, and soft and hard X-rays were also studied.

Concerning spikes in emission and absorption in the microwave range

In some events, weak fast solar bursts （near the level of the quiet Sun） were observed in the background of numerous spikes in emission and absorption. In such a case, the background contains the noise signals of the receiver. In events on 2005 September 16 and 2002 April 14, the solar origin of fast bursts was confirmed by simultaneous recording of the bursts at several remote observatories. The noisy background pixels in emission and absorption can be excluded by subtracting a higher level of continuum when constructing the spectra. The wavelet spectrum, noisy pro- files in different polarization channels and a spectrum with continuum level greater than zero demonstrates the noisy character of pixels with the lowest levels of emission and absorption. Thus, in each case, in order to judge the solar origin of all spikes, it is necessary to determine the level of continuum against the background of which the solar bursts are observed. Several models of microwave spikes are discussed. The electron cyclotron maser emission mechanism runs into serious problems with the in- terpretation of microwave millisecond spikes： the main obstacles are too high values of the magnetic field strength in the source （Pe 〈 uB）. The probable mechanism is the interaction of plasma Langmuir waves with ion-sound waves （l ＋ s → t） in a source related to shock fronts in the reconnection region.