High resolution observations with Artemis-IV and the NRH. I. Type IV associated narrow-band bursts

TL;DR

This study analyzes narrow-band bursts in solar radio emissions, revealing their morphological characteristics, polarization, and potential link to small-scale magnetic reconnection, based on high-resolution observations from ARTEMIS-IV and NRH.

Contribution

It provides detailed measurements and imaging of narrow-band bursts, demonstrating their association with small-scale reconnection and their complex structures, which were previously unresolved.

Findings

Mean burst duration ~100 ms

Spectral bandwidth ~2%

Spikes are polarized and linked to small-scale reconnection

Abstract

Narrow band bursts appear on dynamic spectra from microwave to decametric frequencies as fine structures with very small duration and bandwidth. They are thought to mark small scale magnetic reconnection. We analyzed 27 metric type-IV events with narrow band bursts observed by the ARTEMIS-IV radiospectrograph in 30/6/1999-1/8/2010. We examined the morphological characteristics of isolated narrow-band bursts and groups or chains of spikes. The events were recorded with the SAO (10 ms cadence) receiver of ARTEMIS-IV in the 270-450 MHz range. We measured the duration, spectral width, and frequency drift of ~12000 individual narrow-band bursts, groups, and chains. Spike sources were imaged with the NRH for the event of 21 April 2003. The mean duration of individual bursts at fixed frequency was ~100 ms, while the instantaneous relative bandwidth was ~2%. Some bursts had measurable frequency drift, positive or negative. Often spikes appeared in chains, which were closely spaced in time (column chains) or in frequency (row chains). Column chains had frequency drifts similar to IIId-bursts; most of the row chains exhibited negative drifts similar to fiber bursts. From the NRH data, we found that spikes were superimposed on a larger, slowly varying, background component. They were polarized in the same sense as the background source, with a slightly higher degree of polarization of ~65%, and their size was ~60% of their size in total intensity. The duration and bandwidth distributions did not show any clear separation in groups. Some chains tended to assume the form of zebra, lace stripes, fibers, or bursts of the type-III family, suggesting that such bursts might be resolved in spikes when viewed with high resolution. The NRH data indicate that the spikes are not fluctuations of the background, but represent additional emission such as what would be expected from small-scale reconnection.