Thermal characteristics and the differential emission measure distribution during a B8.3 flare on July 04, 2009

TL;DR

This study analyzes the evolution of the differential emission measure distribution during a B8.3 solar flare, revealing plasma's multi-thermal nature during rise and isothermal nature post-maximum, using various spectral inversion methods.

Contribution

It compares different inversion schemes for DEM[T] and examines how energy estimates depend on spectral energy bands and thermal assumptions during a solar flare.

Findings

DEM[T] shows multi-thermal plasma during flare rise

Post-maximum DEM[T] indicates isothermal plasma

Multi-thermal energy estimates align with iso-thermal during most phases

Abstract

We investigate the evolution of differential emission measure distribution (DEM[T]) in various phases of a B8.3 flare, which occurred on July 04, 2009. We analyze the soft X-ray (SXR) emission in 1.6-8.0 keV range, recorded collectively by Solar Photometer in X-rays (SphinX; Polish) and Solar X-ray Spectrometer (SOXS; Indian) instruments. We make a comparative investigation of the best-fit DEM[T] distributions derived by employing various inversion schemes viz. single gaussian, power-law, functions and Withbroe-Sylwester (W-S) maximum likelihood algorithm. In addition, SXR spectrum in three different energy bands viz. 1.6-5.0 keV (low), 5.0-8.0 keV (high) and 1.6-8.0 keV (combined) is analyzed to determine the dependence of the best-fit DEM[T] distribution on the selection of energy interval. The evolution of DEM[T] distribution, derived using W-S algorithm, reveals the plasma of multi-thermal nature during the rise to the maximum phase of the flare, while of isothermal nature in the post-maximum phase of the flare. Thermal energy content is estimated considering the flare plasma to be of 1) iso-thermal and 2) multi-thermal nature. We find that the energy content during the flare, estimated from the multi-thermal approach, is in good agreement with that derived using the iso-thermal assumption except during the maximum of the flare. Further, (multi-) thermal energy estimated employing low-energy band of the SXR spectrum result in higher values than that derived from the combined-energy band. On the contrary, the analysis of high-energy band of SXR spectrum lead to lower thermal energy than that estimated from the combined-energy band.