Tracing Electron Beams in the Sun's Corona with Radio Dynamic Imaging Spectroscopy

TL;DR

This study uses advanced radio imaging spectroscopy to trace electron beams in the Sun's corona, revealing ultra-thin magnetic loops and supporting a bursty reconnection model for solar energy release.

Contribution

First high-resolution imaging of type III radio bursts in the low corona, enabling direct measurement of plasma density and magnetic loop structures.

Findings

Electron beams originate below 15 Mm in the low corona.

Magnetic loops are less than 100 km in diameter.

Coronal structures are fibrous and highly fragmented.

Abstract

We report observations of type III radio bursts at decimeter wavelengths (type IIIdm bursts) -- signatures of suprathermal electron beams propagating in the low corona -- using the new technique of radio dynamic imaging spectroscopy provided by the recently upgraded Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA). For the first time, type IIIdm bursts were imaged with high time and frequency resolution over a broad frequency band, allowing electron beam trajectories in the corona to be deduced. Together with simultaneous hard X-ray (HXR) and extreme ultraviolet (EUV) observations, we show these beams emanate from an energy release site located in the low corona at a height below ~15 Mm, and propagate along a bundle of discrete magnetic loops upward into the corona. Our observations enable direct measurements of the plasma density along the magnetic loops, and allow us to constrain the diameter of these loops to be less than 100 km. These over-dense and ultra-thin loops reveal the fundamentally fibrous structure of the Sun's corona. The impulsive nature of the electron beams, their accessibility to different magnetic field lines, and the detailed structure of the magnetic release site revealed by the radio observations indicate that the localized energy release is highly fragmentary in time and space, supporting a bursty reconnection model that involves secondary magnetic structures for magnetic energy release and particle acceleration.