Two-Phase Heating in Flaring Loops

TL;DR

This study models a solar flare's loop heating process using UV and X-ray observations, revealing a two-phase heating pattern with implications for energy distribution in solar flares.

Contribution

It introduces a method to identify and analyze over 6,700 flaring loops, modeling their heating with a two-phase process and considering thermal conduction suppression.

Findings

Successful reproduction of observed X-ray and EUV light curves.

Approximately 40% of flare energy is in slow heating phase.

Two-fifths of the energy heats the corona, the rest is radiated or conducted.

Abstract

We analyze and model a C5.7 two-ribbon solar flare observed by SDO, Hinode and GOES on 2011 December 26. The flare is made of many loops formed and heated successively over one and half hours, and their footpoints are brightened in the UV 1600 A before enhanced soft X-ray and EUV missions are observed in flare loops. Assuming that anchored at each brightened UV pixel is a half flaring loop, we identify more than 6,700 half flaring loops, and infer the heating rate of each loop from the UV light curve at the foot-point. In each half loop, the heating rate consists of two phases, an intense impulsive heating followed by a low-rate heating persistent for more than 20 minutes. Using these heating rates, we simulate the evolution of their coronal temperatures and densities with the model of "enthalpy-based thermal evolution of loops" (EBTEL). In the model, suppression of thermal conduction is also considered. This model successfully reproduces total soft X-ray and EUV light curves observed in fifteen pass-bands by four instruments GOES, AIA, XRT, and EVE. In this flare, a total energy of 4.9x10^30 ergs is required to heat the corona, around 40% of this energy is in the slow heating phase. About two fifth of the total energy used to heat the corona is radiated by the coronal plasmas, and the other three fifth transported to the lower atmosphere by thermal conduction.