Particle Acceleration In Solar Flares

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.

These are the Proceedings of the Second CESRA Workshop on Particle Acceleration and Trapping in Solar Flares. The Workshop was held on June 23-26,1986, at the city hall of Aubigny-sur-Nere (France), near Bourges and near the Nan

This concise primer introduces the non-specialist reader to the physics of solar energetic particles (SEP) and systematically reviews the evidence for the two main mechanisms which lead to the so-called impulsive and gradual SEP events. More specifically, the timing of the onsets, the longitude distributions, the high-energy spectral shapes, the correlations with other solar phenomena (e.g. coronal mass ejections), as well as the all-important elemental and isotopic abundances of SEPs are investigated. Impulsive SEP events are related to magnetic reconnection in solar flares and jets. The concept of shock acceleration by scattering on self-amplified Alfvén waves is introduced, as is the evidence of reacceleration of impulsive-SEP material in the seed population accessed by the shocks in gradual events. The text then develops processes of transport of ions out to an observer. Finally, a new technique to determine the source plasma temperature in both impulsive and gradual events is demonstrated. Last but not least the role of SEP events as a radiation hazard in space is mentioned and a short discussion of the nature of the main particle telescope designs that have contributed to most of the SEP measurements is given.

Solar flares, which have significant space weather consequences, are natural particle accelerators and one of the most spectacular phenomena of solar activity. RHESSI is the most advanced solar X-ray and gamma-ray mission ever flown and has opened a new era in solar flare research following its launch in 2002. This book offers a glimpse of this active research area from a high-energy perspective and contains a comprehensive guideline for RHESSI data analysis. Its main theme is the investigation of particle acceleration and transport in solar flares. The strength of this book lies in its well-balanced account of the latest X-ray observations and theoretical models. The observational focus is on the morphology and spectra of imaged X-ray sources produced by nonthermal electrons or hot plasma. The modeling takes the novel approach of combining the Fokker-Planck treatment of the accelerated particles with the hydrodynamic treatment of the heated atmosphere. Applications of this modeling technique reach beyond the Sun to other exotic environments in the universe, such as extrasolar planetary auroras, stellar flares, and flares on accretion disks around neutron stars and black holes.