Quasi-Periodic Pulsations in Hard X-rays of Partially Occulted Solar Flares

Publication date: Available online 21 June 2019Source: Advances in Space ResearchAuthor(s): Ż. Szaforz, M. TomczakAbstractWe investigated solar flares partially occulted by the solar disk observed by the Yohkoh satellite. We found that about 30–40% of them show quasi-periodic pulsations (QPPs) in hard X-rays (HXR). A lack of usually brighter footpoint sources allowed us to reconstruct coronal HXR sources with a higher quality. We analyzed 28 partially occulted flares showing the QPPs and for the first time present results for such events as a group. In our opinion, the majority of the observed HXR loop-top sources can be explained as successive compression and rarefaction of magnetic traps described in a model of oscillating magnetic traps (OMT). In this model a particular value of a ratio between the diameter of traps and the period of pulsations is postulated. In our modification of this model, different values of the ratio are possible, with the exception of a lower range, where low values of magnetic field strength and high values of electron density number can excess the plasma-β parameter above unity (ballooning instability).

Source: Advances in Space Research - June 22, 2019 Category: Science Source Type: research