Hydrogen Balmer line formation in solar flares affected by return currents

Aims. We investigate the effect of the electric return currents in solar flares on the profiles of hydrogen Balmer lines. We consider the monoenergetic approximation for the primary beam and runaway model of the neutralizing return current. Methods. Propagation of the 10 keV electron beam from a coronal reconnection site is considered for the semiempirical chromosphere model F1. We estimate the local number density of return current using two approximations for beam energy fluxes between $4\times 10^{11}$ and $1\times 10^{12} {\rm erg cm^{-2} s^{-1}}$. Inelastic collisions of beam and return-current electrons with hydrogen are included according to their energy distributions, and the hydrogen Balmer line intensities are computed using an NLTE radiative transfer approach. Results. In comparison to traditional NLTE models of solar flares that neglect the return-current effects, we found a significant increase emission in the Balmer line cores due to nonthermal excitation by return current. Contrary to the model without return current, the line shapes are sensitive to a beam flux. It is the result of variation in the return-current energy that is close to the hydrogen excitation thresholds and the density of return-current electrons.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, 1 table, accepted for publication in Astronomy and Astrophysics Letter

Double plasma resonance instability as a source of solar zebra emission

The double plasma resonance (DPR) instability plays a basic role in the generation of solar radio zebras. In the plasma, consisting of the loss-cone type distribution of hot electrons and much denser and colder background plasma, this instability generates the upper-hybrid waves, which are then transformed into the electromagnetic waves and observed as radio zebras. In the present paper we numerically study the double plasma resonance instability from the point of view of the zebra interpretation. We use a 3-dimensional electromagnetic particle-in-cell (3-D PIC) relativistic model. First using the multi-mode model, we study details of the double plasma resonance instability. We show how the distribution function of hot electrons changes during this instability. Then we show that there is a very good agreement between results obtained by the multi-mode and specific-mode models, which is caused by a dominance of the wave with the maximal growth rate. Therefore, for computations in a broad range of model parameters, we use the specific-mode model. We compute the maximal growth rates of the double plasma resonance instability. The results are compared with the analytical ones. We find a very good agreement between numerical and analytical growth rates. We also compute saturation energies of the upper-hybrid waves in a very broad range of parameters. We find that the saturation energies of the upper-hybrid waves show maxima and minima at almost the same values of $\omega_\mathrm{UH}/\omega_\mathrm{ce}$ as the growth rates. Furthermore, we find that the saturation energy of the upper-hybrid waves is proportional to the density of hot electrons. The maximum saturated energy can be up to one percent of the kinetic energy of hot electrons. All these findings can be used in the interpretation of solar radio zebras.Comment: 8 pages, 12 figure

Pulse-beam heating of deep atmospheric layers triggering their oscillations and upwards moving shocks that can modulate the reconnection in solar flares

We study processes occurring after a sudden heating of the chromosphere at the flare arcade footpoints which is assumed to be caused by particle beams. For the numerical simulations we adopt a 2-D magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) model, in which we solve a full set of the time-dependent MHD equations by means of the FLASH code, using the Adaptive Mesh Refinement (AMR) method. In the initial state we consider a model of the solar atmosphere with densities according to the VAL-C model and the magnetic field arcade having the X-point structure above, where the magnetic reconnection is assumed. We found that the sudden pulse-beam heating of the chromosphere at the flare arcade footpoints generates magnetohydrodynamic shocks, one propagating upwards and the second one propagating downwards in the solar atmosphere. The downward moving shock is reflected at deep and dense atmospheric layers and triggers oscillations of these layers. These oscillations generate the upwards moving magnetohydrodynamic waves that can influence the above located magnetic reconnection in a quasi-periodic way. Because these processes require a sudden heating in very localized regions in the chromosphere therefore they can be also associated with seismic waves

Radio fiber bursts and fast magnetoacoustic wave trains

We present a model for dm-fiber bursts that is based on assuming fast sausage magnetoacoustic wave trains that propagate along a dense vertical filament or current sheet. Eight groups of dm-fiber bursts that were observed during solar flares were selected and analyzed by the wavelet analysis method. To model these fiber bursts we built a semi-empirical model. We also did magnetohydrodynamic simulations of a propagation of the magnetoacoustic wave train in a vertical and gravitationally stratified current sheet. In the wavelet spectra of the fiber bursts computed at different radio frequencies we found the wavelet tadpoles, whose head maxima have the same frequency drift as the drift of fiber bursts. It indicates that the drift of these fiber bursts can be explained by the propagating fast sausage magnetoacoustic wave train. Using new semi-empirical and magnetohydrodynamic models with a simple radio emission model we generated the artificial radio spectra of the fiber bursts, which are similar to the observed ones.Comment: 7 pages, 10 figure

Radio bursts observed during solar eruptive flares and their schematic summary

In this review we summarize results of our analysis of the observations of solar eruptive flares made by the Ond\v{r}ejov radiospectrograph for more than twenty years. We also present some Potsdam-Tremsdorf radio spectra from our common studies. Considering a 3-dimensional model of eruptive flares together with the results of our magnetohydrodynamic and particle-in-cell simulations we show an importance of decimetric radio bursts for understanding of plasma processes in eruptive flares. We present drifting pulsation structures as signatures of plasmoids, an unusual zebra pattern in the very early flare stage, narrowband dm-spikes as the bursts generated in the reconnection plasma outflows, radio bursts indicating a merging of plasmoids, pair of decimetric type III bursts indicating the electron beams propagating upwards and downwards in the solar atmosphere from the acceleration site, and a special decimetric type III burst formed probably around the plasmoid. We present unusual radio bursts connected with the rising magnetic rope at the very beginning of eruptive flares. Furthermore, based on the analysis of decimetric continua we estimated the level of the plasma turbulence in a vicinity of the flare termination shock. Interpretations of all these bursts are based on models and time coincidences with observations in X-ray, UV and optical ranges; in most cases an information about positions of these radio sources is missing. To show an importance of positional information, we present a rare example of observations, where the drifting pulsation structure was observed simultaneously with the observations made by the EOVSA radiointerferometer. All the presented bursts are then summarized in a new scheme of bursts and compared with the schema commonly used.Comment: 20 pages, 12 figure

Modifications of thick-target model: re-acceleration of electron beams by static and stochastic electric fields

We study two modifications of the collisional thick-target model (CTTM) based on the global and local re-acceleration of non-thermal electrons by static and stochastic electric fields during their transport from the coronal acceleration site to the thick-target region in the chromosphere. We concentrate on a comparison of the non-thermal electron distribution functions, chromospheric energy deposits, and HXR spectra obtained for both considered modifications with the CTTM itself. The results were obtained using a relativistic test-particle approach. We simulated the transport of non-thermal electrons with a power-law spectrum including the influence of scattering, energy losses, magnetic mirroring, and also the effects of the electric fields corresponding to both modifications of the CTTM. We show that both modifications of the CTTM change the outcome of the chromospheric bombardment in several aspects. The modifications lead to an increase in chromospheric energy deposit, change of its spatial distribution, and a substantial increase in the corresponding HXR spectrum intensity.Comment: 15 pages, 14 figures, 3 tables, to be published in Astronomy and Astrophysic

Spontaneous current-layer fragmentation and cascading reconnection in solar flares: II. Relation to observations

In the paper by B\'arta et al. (arXive:astro-ph:/1011.4035, 2010) the authors addressed some open questions of the CSHKP scenario of solar flares by means of high-resolution MHD simulations. They focused, in particular, on the problem of energy transfer from large to small scales in decaying flare current sheet (CS). Their calculations suggest, that magnetic flux-ropes (plasmoids) are formed in full range of scales by a cascade of tearing and coalescence processes. Consequently, the initially thick current layer becomes highly fragmented. Thus, the tearing and coalescence cascade can cause an effective energy transfer across the scales. In the current paper we investigate whether this mechanism actually applies in solar flares. We extend the MHD simulation by deriving model-specific features that can be looked for in observations. The results of the underlying MHD model showed that the plasmoid cascade creates a specific hierarchical distribution of non-ideal/acceleration regions embedded in the CS. We therefore focus on the features associated with the fluxes of energetic particles, in particular on the structure and dynamics of emission regions in flare ribbons. We assume that the structure and dynamics of diffusion regions embedded in the CS imprint themselves into structure and dynamics of flare-ribbon kernels by means of magnetic-field mapping. Using the results of the underlying MHD simulation we derive the expected structure of ribbon emission and we extract selected statistical properties of the modelled bright kernels. Comparing the predicted emission and its properties with the observed ones we obtain a good agreement of the two.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figure

Reconnection of a kinking flux rope triggering the ejection of a microwave and hard X-ray source. II. Numerical Modeling

Numerical simulations of the helical ($m\!=\!1$) kink instability of an arched, line-tied flux rope demonstrate that the helical deformation enforces reconnection between the legs of the rope if modes with two helical turns are dominant as a result of high initial twist in the range $\Phi\gtrsim6\pi$. Such reconnection is complex, involving also the ambient field. In addition to breaking up the original rope, it can form a new, low-lying, less twisted flux rope. The new flux rope is pushed downward by the reconnection outflow, which typically forces it to break as well by reconnecting with the ambient field. The top part of the original rope, largely rooted in the sources of the ambient flux after the break-up, can fully erupt or be halted at low heights, producing a "failed eruption." The helical current sheet associated with the instability is squeezed between the approaching legs, temporarily forming a double current sheet. The leg-leg reconnection proceeds at a high rate, producing sufficiently strong electric fields that it would be able to accelerate particles. It may also form plasmoids, or plasmoid-like structures, which trap energetic particles and propagate out of the reconnection region up to the top of the erupting flux rope along the helical current sheet. The kinking of a highly twisted flux rope involving leg-leg reconnection can explain key features of an eruptive but partially occulted solar flare on 18 April 2001, which ejected a relatively compact hard X-ray and microwave source and was associated with a fast coronal mass ejection.Comment: Solar Physics, in pres