Global Properties of Solar Flares

By H. Hudson. 2011

176 citations recorded by the source corpus.

This article broadly reviews our knowledge of solar flares. There is a particular focus on their global properties, as opposed to the microphysics such as that needed for magnetic reconnection or particle acceleration as such. Indeed solar flares will always remain in the domain of remote sensing, so we cannot observe the microscales directly and must understand the basic physics entirely via the global properties plus theoretical inference. The global observables include the general energetics—radiation in flares and mass loss in coronal mass ejections (CMEs)—and the formation of different kinds of ejection and global wave disturbance: the type II radio-burst exciter, the Moreton wave, the EIT “wave”, and the “sunquake” acoustic waves in the solar interior. Flare radiation and CME kinetic energy can have comparable magnitudes, of order 1032 erg each for an X-class event, with the bulk of the radiant energy in the visible-UV continuum. We argue that the impulsive phase of the flare dominates the energetics of all of these manifestations, and also point out that energy and momentum in this phase largely reside in the electromagnetic field, not in the observable plasma.

Subfields: Astronomy and Astrophysics, Geophysics

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/a26f5968e2c642fe9aec1bb89b3aee73a58e27ad

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In Astronomy and Astrophysics

1. T. Wiegelmann
2. P. Chamberlin
3. M. Temmer
4. J. Todd Hoeksema
5. F. Eparvier
6. T. Woods
7. J. Thalmann
8. Xudong Sun

In Geophysics

1. Valery M. Nakariakov
2. M. Temmer
3. C. Schrijver
4. Haimin Wang
5. Na Deng
6. Chang Liu
7. T. Wiegelmann

Citations in the corpus

• Space weather: the solar perspective (2021, background): “For more details on the global properties of solar flares, I refer to the review by Hudson (2011).”
• EVOLUTION OF MAGNETIC FIELD AND ENERGY IN A MAJOR ERUPTIVE ACTIVE REGION BASED ON SDO/HMI OBSERVATION (2011, background): “However, detailed knowledge of the process is still lacking, especially in a quantitative spatially and temporally resolved manner (e.g. Hudson 2011).”
• RESPONSE OF THE PHOTOSPHERIC MAGNETIC FIELD TO THE X2.2 FLARE ON 2011 FEBRUARY 15 (2011, background): “However, it is noted that the changes of the LOS field alone cannot provide complete understanding of the field restructuring (Hudson 2011).”
• CIRCULAR RIBBON FLARES AND HOMOLOGOUS JETS (2012, background): “…actual flares take place in a more complicated three-dimensional (3D) structure, hence the standard model, despite of its general applicability (Hudson 2011), may not explain some features of the flare ribbon evolution, such as the frequently observed expansion of ribbons along the PIL before…”
• Modelling Quasi-Periodic Pulsations in Solar and Stellar Flares (2018, background): “that flares should deliver acoustic impulses to the solar interior (Hudson 2011).”
• NEW SOLAR EXTREME-ULTRAVIOLET IRRADIANCE OBSERVATIONS DURING FLARES (2011, background): “Hudson (2011) and Cliver et al. (1986) point out the “extended phase” effect for HXR emissions that have secondary peaks during the SXR gradual phase.”