LyαEmission Enhancement Associated with Soft X-Ray Microflares

Lyα(Lyα,1216 A)is the strongest emission line in the solar ultraviolet spectrum.In the present work,we obtained a Lyαenhancement catalog covering flares larger than B1 class from the GOES/EUVS data during 2010-2016.We focused on the 242 B-class events which are less investigated,however,show non-negligible Lyαemission enhancement.We found that on average the Lyαpeak of B-class flares is 0.85%stronger than the background.For the flare energetics,it is found that the weaker the soft X-ray(SXR)flare,the larger the ratio of the radiated energy in Lyαto SXR.Using the RHESSI data and multi-wavelength observations taken by SDO-AIA,we diagnose the thermal and non-thermal properties of several flares.Three case studies show that the coincidence of the Lyαpeak with the SXR time-derivative peak is not a sufficient condition of the nonthermal property of a Lyαmicroflare.The Lyαenhancement in the microflares may be caused by the nonthermal electron beams or/and thermal conduction.However for typeⅢevents,we found that the delay of the Lyαpeak with respect to the SXR peak can be attributed to either the Lyαemission from a filament erupted or the cooling of the thermal plasma in flare loops.Furthermore,interestingly the Lyαemission from filaments can not only occur in the decay phase of the flare,but also in the preflare phase.In this case,the Lyαemission was originated from an erupted filament which probably initiated the flare.

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.

DSC based Dual-Resunet for radio frequency interference identification

Radio frequency interference(RFI)will pollute the weak astronomical signals received by radio telescopes,which in return will seriously affect the time-domain astronomical observation and research.In this paper,we use a deep learning method to identify RFI in frequency spectrum data,and propose a neural network based on Unet that combines the principles of depthwise separable convolution and residual,named DSC Based Dual-Resunet.Compared with the existing Unet network,DSC Based Dual-Resunet performs better in terms of accuracy,F1 score,and MIoU,and is also better in terms of computation cost where the model size and parameter amount are 12.5%of Unet and the amount of computation is 38%of Unet.The experimental results show that the proposed network is a high-performance and lightweight network,and it is hopeful to be applied to RFI identification of radio telescopes on a large scale.

Solar flares: radio and X-ray signatures of magnetic reconnection processes

This review summarizes new trends in studies of magnetic reconnection in solar flares. It is shown that plasmoids play a very important role in this primary flare process. Using the results of magnetohydrodynamic and particle-in-cell simulations, we describe how the plasmoids are formed, how they move and interact, and how a flare current sheet is fragmented into a cascade of plasmoids. Furthermore, it is shown that during the interactions of these plasmoids electrons are not only very efficiently accelerated and heated, but electromagnetic（radio） emission is also produced.We also describe possible mechanisms for the triggering of magnetic reconnection.The relevant X-ray and radio signatures of these processes（such as radio drifting pulsation structures, narrowband dm-spikes, and the loop-top and above-the-loop-top X-ray sources） are then described. It is shown that plasmoids can also be formed in kinked magnetic ropes. A mapping of X-points of the magnetic reconnection on the chromosphere（as e.g. a splitting of flare ribbons） is mentioned. Supporting EUV and white-light observations of plasmoids are added. The significance of all these processes for the fast magnetic reconnection and electron acceleration is outlined. Their role in fusion experiments is briefly mentioned.

The causality between the rapid rotation of a sunspot and an X3.4 flare

Using multi-wavelength data of Hinode, the rapid rotation of a sunspot in active region NOAA 10930 is studied in detail. We found extraordinary counterclockwise rotation of the sunspot with positive polarity before an X3.4 flare. From a series of vector magnetograms, it is found that magnetic force lines are highly sheared along the neutral line accompanying the sunspot rotation. Furthermore, it is also found that sheared loops and an inverse S-shaped magnetic loop in the corona formed gradually after the sunspot rotation. The X3.4 flare can be reasonably regarded as a result of this movement. A detailed analysis provides evidence that sunspot rotation leads to magnetic field lines twisting in the photosphere. The twist is then transported into the corona and triggers flares.

The Role of Nuclei-Nuclei Interactions in the Production of Gamma-ray Lines in Solar Flares

Dramatic extensions of experimental possibilities (spacecraft RHESSI, CORONAS-F and others) in solar gamma-ray astronomy call for urgent, detailed theoretical consideration of a set of physical problems of solar activity and solar-terrestrial relationships that earlier may have only been outlined. Here we undertake a theoretical analysis of issues related to the production of gamma-radiation in the processes of interactions of energetic (accelerated) heavy and middle nuclei with the nuclei of the solar atmosphere (the so-called i-j interactions). We also make an estimate of the contribution of these interactions to the formation of nuclear and isotopic abundances of the solar atmosphere in the range of light and rare elements. The analysis is carried out for solar flares in the wide range of their intensities. We compare our theoretical estimates with RHESSI observations for the flare of 2002 July 23. It was shown that the 24Mg gamma-ray emission in this event was produced by the newly generated Mg nuclei. With a high probability, the gamma-ray line emission of 28Si nuclei from this flare was generated by the same processes.

Are Homologous Radio Bursts Driven by Solar Post-Flare Loops?

Three particularly complex radio bursts （2001 October 19, 2001 April 10 and 2003 October 26） obtained with the spectrometers （0.65-7.6GHz） at the National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences （NAOC, Beijing and Yunnan） and other instruments （NoRH, TRACE and SXT） are presented. They each have two groups of peaks occurring in different frequency ranges （broad-band microwave and narrow-band decimeter wavelengths）. We stress that the second group of burst peaks that occurred in the late phase of the flares and associated with post-flare loops may be homologous radio bursts. We think that they are driven by the post-flare loops. In contrast to the time profiles of the radio bursts and the images of coronal magnetic polarities, we are able to find that the three events are caused by the active regions including main single-bipole magnetic structures, which are associated with multipole magnetic structures during the flare evolutions. In particular, we point out that the later decimetric radio bursts are possibly the radio counterparts of the homologous flares （called ＂homologous radio bursts＂ by us）, which are also driven by the single-bipole mag- netic structures. By examining the evolutions of the magnetic polarities of sources （17 GHz）, we could presume that the drivers of the homologous radio bursts are new and/or recurring appearances/disappearances of the magnetic polarities of radio sources, and that the triggers are the magnetic reconnections of single-bipole configurations.

Statistical properties of radio flux densities of solar flares

Short timescale flux variations are closely related to the energy release process of magnetic reconnection during solar flares.Radio light curves at 1,2,3.75,9.4,and 17 GHz of 209 flares observed by the Nobeyama Radio Polarimeter from 2000 to 2010 are analyzed with a running smooth technique.We find that the impulsive component(with a variation timescale shorter than 1 s)of 1 GHz emission of most flares peaks at a few tens of solar flux unit and lasts for about 1 minute and the impulsive component of 2 GHz emission lasts a shorter period and peaks at a lower flux level,while at the three high frequency channels the occurrence frequency of flares increases with the decrease of the flux density up to the noise level of the corresponding background.However,the gradual components of these emissions have similar duration and peak flux density distributions.We also derive the power spectrum on different timescales and a normalized wavelet analysis is used to confirm features on short timescales.At a time resolution of 0.1 s,more than^60%of these radio light curves show significant flux variation on 1 s or shorter time scales.This fraction increases with the decrease of frequency and reaches^100%at 1 GHz,implying that short timescale processes are universal in solar flares.We also study the correlation between the impulsive radio flux densities and soft X-ray fluxes obtained with the GOES satellites and find that more than 65%of the flares with an impulsive component have their impulsive radio emission reach a peak value ahead of the soft X-ray fluxes and this fraction increases with the radio frequency.

Observational Evidence for Solar Radio Microflares with Unusual Characteristics

A very rare type of solar radio microflares occurred during 0645～0720 UT on Jan. 5, 1994 is introduced in this paper. The radio and optical characteristics of the solar microflares of a short decimetric wave (1 42 GHz) are discussed. This event contains 53 radio fast fine structures (FFS), that is, 53 intermittently periodic impulse trains with similar morphologies superimposed on the continuum radiation background. The intensities of the pulses lie within 150～200 s. f. u. and the durations (half power width) are of the order of 10～50 milliseconds (ms). 18 out of 53 FFSs are doublepeak-separating structures. In this paper we try to discuss the generation mechanism qualitatively and find it is in consistence with the model of current loop explosive coalescence (Sakai and De Jager, 1989a, 1989b): the explosive coalescence of the multiple of cross magnetic flux loops causes the plasma disturbance and so rapidly transform the magnetic energy into the kinetic energy of electrons.

Study of temporal and spectral characteristics of the X-ray emission from solar flares

Temporal and spectral characteristics of X-ray emission from 60 flares of intensity ≥C class observed by the Solar X-ray Spectrometer （SOXS） during 2003-2011 are presented. We analyze the X-ray emission observed in four and three energy bands by the Si and Cadmium-Zinc-Telluride （CZT） detectors, respectively. The number of peaks in the intensity profile of the flares varies between 1 and 3. We find moderate correlation （R ~=0.2） between the rise time and the peak flux of the first peak of the flare irrespective of energy band, which is indicative of its energy-independent nature. Moreover, the magnetic field complexity of the flaring region is found to be highly anti-correlated （R = 0.61） with the rise time of the flares while positively correlated （R = 0.28） with the peak flux of the flare. The time delay between the peak of the X-ray emission in a given energy band and that in 25-30keV decreases with increasing energy, suggesting conduction cooling is dominant in the lower energies. Analysis of 340 spectra from 14 flares reveals that the peak of differential emission measure （DEM） evolution is delayed by 60-360 s relative to that of the temperature, and this time delay is inversely proportional to the peak flux of the flare. We conclude that temporal and intensity characteristics of flares are dependent on energy as well as the magnetic field configuration of the active region.

Signature of high-order azimuthal MHD body modes in sunspot's low atmosphere

The five-minute oscillations inside sunspots appear to be the absorption of the solar p-mode. It is a potential tool to probe a sunspot＇s sub-structure. We studied the collective properties of five-minute oscillations in the power and phase distribution at the sunspot＇s umbra-penumbra boundary. The azimuthal distributions of the power and phase of five-minute oscillations enclosing a sunspot＇s umbra were obtained with images taken with the Solar Dynamics Observatory/Atmospheric Imaging Assembly （SDO/AIA）. The azimuthal modes were quantified with periodogram analysis and justified with significance tests. The azimuthal nodal structures in an approximately ax- ially symmetric sunspot AR 11131 （2010 Dec 08） were investigated. Mode numbers ra = 2, 3, 4, 7, 10 were obtained in both 1700 A and 1600A bandpasses. The 1600A channel also revealed an extra mode at m = 9. In the upper atmosphere （304 A）, fewer modes were detected at m = 3, 4, 7. The azimuthal modes in the sunspot＇s low atmo- sphere could be interpreted as high-order azimuthal MHD body modes. They were detected in the power and phase of the five-minute oscillations in sunspot AR 11131 with SDO/AIA data. Fewer modes were detected in the sunspot＇s upper atmosphere.

Study of white-light flares observed by Hinode

White-light flares are considered to be the most energetic flaring events that are observable in the optical broad-band continuum of the solar spectrum. They have not been commonly observed. Observations of white-light flares with sub-arcsecond resolution have been very rare. The continuous high resolution observations of Hinode provide a unique opportunity to systematically study the white-light flares with a spatial resolution around 0.2 arcsec. We surveyed all the flares above GOES magnitude C5.0 since the launch of Hinode in 2006 October. 13 of these kinds of flares were covered by the Hinode G-band observations. We analyzed the peak contrasts and equivalent areas （calculated via integrated excess emission contrast） of these flares as a function of the GOES X-ray flux, and found that the cut-off visibility is likely around M1 flares under the observing limit of Hinode. Many other observational and physical factors should affect the visibility of white-light flares; as the observing conditions are improved, smaller flares are likely to have detectable white-light emissions. We are cautious that this limiting visibility is an overestimate, because G-band observations contain emissions from the upper atmosphere. Among the 13 events analyzed, only the M8.7 flare of 2007 June 4 had near-simultaneous observations in both the G-band and the blue continuum. The blue continuum had a peak contrast of 94% vs. 175% in G-band for this event. The equivalent area in the blue continuum is an order of magnitude lower than that in the G-band. Very recently, Jess et al. studied a C2.0 flare with a peak contrast of 300% in the blue continuum. Compared to the events presented in this letter, that event is probably an unusual white-light flare： a very small kernel with a large contrast that can be detected in high resolution observations.

The Energetics of White-light Flares Observed by SDO/HMI and RHESSI

White-light （WL） flares have been observed and studied for more than a century since their first discovery. However, some fundamental physics behind the brilliant emission remains highly controversial. One of the important facts in addressing the flare energetics is the spatio-temporal correlation between the WL emission and the hard X-ray （HXR） radiation, presumably suggesting that energetic electrons are the energy sources. In this study, we present a statistical analysis of 25 strong flares （〉M5） observed simultaneously by the Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager （HMI）, on board the Solar Dynamics Observatory （SDO）, and the Reuven Ramaty High Energy Solar Spectroscopic lmager （RHESS1）. Among these events, WL emission was detected by SDO/HMI in 13 flares, associated with HXR emission. To quantitatively describe the strength of WL emission, equivalent area （EA） is defined as the integrated contrast enhancement over the entire flaring area. Our results show that the EA is inversely proportional to the HXR power-law index, indicating that stronger WL emission tends to be associated with a larger population of high energy electrons. However, no obvious correlation is found between WL emission and flux of non-thermal electrons at 50 keV. For the other group of 13 flares without detectable WL emission, the HXR spectra are softer （larger power-law index） than those flares with WL emission, especially for the X-class flares in this group.

Three-dimensional Distribution of the Escape Photons of Hα Flares

A technique for obtaining a three-dimensional distribution of received photons in Hα flares in the solar atmosphere is presented. It is well known that during flares hydrogen atoms in the chromosphere and photosphere are excited （even ionized） by the downward heating of non-thermal particles and then emit Hα photons. We trace back these Hα photons to their original layers by use of the contribution function in the theory of spectral line formation, and so acquire their three-dimensional （3D） distribution. This technique is applied to the two-ribbon flare of 2002 January 20. The atmospheric models are obtained by fitting the ＂quasi-profiles＂ with the help of the generally used model atmospheres. Since the variety of the 3D images reflects the response of the atmospheric layers to the impact of energy transport, an analysis of the development of the flare is given through a comparison of the 3D images with the 2D temperature distribution.

The Gyrosynchrotron Radiation Spectrum in a Nonuniform Source

Effects of the energy spectral index δ, low energy cutoff E0 and number density N of energetic electrons on gyrosynchrotron spectrum are investigated for a model source with a nonuniform magnetic field. It is found that the flux density SVT of the x-mode and o-mode systematically increase with increasing E0, N and with decreasing δ. The peak frequency of the spectrum, vp, also systematically increases as increasing E0 and N, but it may not depend on δ. The gyrosynchrotron radiation in the nonuniform case is polarized predominately in the x-mode at v ≥ 3 GHz. A sense reversal of circular polarization also occurs but at much lower frequencies （v ≤ 3 GHz）. The reversal frequency also increases with increasing E0 and N, but it perhaps is independent of δ.

Support Vector Machine combined with K-Nearest Neighbors for Solar Flare Forecasting

A method combining the support vector machine （SVM） the K-Nearest Neighbors （KNN）, labelled the SVM-KNN method, is used to construct a solar flare forecasting model. Based on a proven relationship between SVM and KNN, the SVM-KNN method improves the SVM algorithm of classification by taking advantage of the KNN algorithm according to the distribution of test samples in a feature space. In our flare forecast study, sunspots and 10cm radio flux data observed during Solar Cycle 23 are taken as predictors, and whether an M class flare will occur for each active region within two days will be predicted. The SVM- KNN method is compared with the SVM and Neural networks-based method. The test results indicate that the rate of correct predictions from the SVM-KNN method is higher than that from the other two methods. This method shows promise as a practicable future forecasting model.

Synthetic analysis of a two-ribbon microflare

High-resolution Stokes spectral data of Hα, Ca Ⅱ 8542A, and Fe 16302.5A lines for a two-ribbon microflare （TRMF） were simultaneously obtained by the THEMIS telescope on 2002 September 5. We derive the intensity, velocity, and longitudinal magnetic field maps. The hard X-ray emission observed by RHESSI provides evidence of nonthermal particle acceleration in the TRMF. Using Ha and Ca Ⅱ 8542A line profiles and a non-LTE calculation, we obtain semi-empirical atmospheric models for the two brightest kernels of the TRME Our result indicates that the temperature enhancement in the chromosphere is more than 2500 K. The kinetic and radiative energies at the kernels are also estimated, resulting in an estimate of the total energy of the TRMF of about 2.4×10^29 erg. Observations indicate that the TRMF results from the low coronal magnetic reconnection following the eruption of a small fila- ment. However, the local temperature ＂bump＂ in the chromosphere presents a puzzle for such a standard flare model. A possible solution to this is discussed.

Diagnosing physical conditions near the flare energy-release sites from observations of solar microwave typeⅢbursts

In the physics of solar flares, it is crucial to diagnose the physical conditions near the flare energy- release sites. However, so far it is unclear how to diagnose these physical conditions. A solar microwave type III burst is believed to be a sensitive signature of primary energy release and electron accelerations in solar flares. This work takes into account the effect of the magnetic field on the plasma density and develops a set of formulas which can be used to estimate the plasma density, temperature, magnetic field near the magnetic reconnection site and particle acceleration region, and the velocity and energy of electron beams. We apply these formulas to three groups of microwave type III pairs in an X-class flare, and obtained some reasonable and interesting results. This method can be applied to other microwave type III bursts to diagnose the physical conditions of source regions, and provide some basic information to understand the intrinsic nature and fundamental processes occurring near the flare energy-release sites.

A comparison between magnetic shear and flare shear in a well-observed M-class flare

We give an extensive multi-wavelength analysis of an eruptive M1.0/1N class solar flare, which occurred in the active region NOAA 10044 on 2002 July 26. Our emphasis is on the relationship between magnetic shear and flare shear. Flare shear is defined as the angle formed between the line connecting the centroids of the two ribbons of the flare and the line perpendicular to the magnetic neutral line. The magnetic shear is computed from vector magnetograms observed at Big Bear Solar Observatory （BBSO）, while the flare shear is computed from Transition Region and Coronal Explorer （TRACE） 1700A images. By a detailed comparison, we find that; 1） The magnetic shear and the flare shear of this event are basically consistent, as judged from the directions of the transverse magnetic field and the line connecting the two ribbons＇ centroids. 2） During the period of the enhancement of magnetic shear, flare shear had a fast increase followed by a fluctuated decrease. 3） When the magnetic shear stopped its enhancement, the fluctuated decreasing behavior of the flare shear became very smooth. 4） Hard X-ray （HXR） spikes are well correlated with the unshearing peaks on the time profile of the rate of change of the flare shear. We give a discussion of the above phenomena.

BoxCox multi-output linear regression for 10.7 cm solar radio flux prediction

We consider the problem of predicting the mid-term daily 10.7 cm solar radio flux(F10.7),a widely-used solar activity index.A novel approach is proposed for this task,in which BoxCox transformation with a proper parameter is first applied to make the data satisfy the property of homoscedasticity that is a basic assumption of regression models,and then a multi-output linear regression model is used to predict future F10.7 values.The experiment shows that the BoxCox transformation significantly improves the predictive performance and our new approach works substantially better than the prediction from the US Airforce and other alternative methods like Auto-regressive Model,Multi-layer Perceptron,and Support Vector Regression.