A diagnostic of coronal elemental behavior during the inverse FIP effect in solar flares

TL;DR

This paper introduces a new diagnostic method to distinguish whether the inverse FIP effect in solar flares results from high FIP element enhancement or low FIP element depletion, using modeling and hydrodynamic simulations.

Contribution

The study develops a novel diagnostic based on radiated power loss modeling and applies it to solar flare data to determine the elemental behavior during the inverse FIP effect.

Findings

Low FIP elements are depleted in the observed flare region.

Significant differences in loop cooling times depend on FIP element behavior.

Provides radiated power loss functions for different FIP scenarios.

Abstract

The solar corona shows a distinctive pattern of elemental abundances that is different from that of the photosphere. Low first ionization potential (FIP) elements are enhanced by factors of several. A similar effect is seen in the atmospheres of some solar-like stars, while late type M stars show an inverse FIP effect. This inverse effect was recently detected on the Sun during solar flares, potentially allowing a very detailed look at the spatial and temporal behavior that is not possible from stellar observations. A key question for interpreting these measurements is whether both effects act solely on low FIP elements (a true inverse effect predicted by some models), or whether the inverse FIP effect arises because high FIP elements are enhanced. Here we develop a new diagnostic that can discriminate between the two scenarios, based on modeling of the radiated power loss, and applying the models to a numerical hydrodynamic simulation of coronal loop cooling. We show that when low/high FIP elements are depleted/enhanced, there is a significant difference in the cooling lifetime of loops that is greatest at lower temperatures. We apply this diagnostic to a post X1.8 flare loop arcade and inverse FIP region, and show that for this event, low FIP elements are depleted. We discuss the results in the context of stellar observations, and models of the FIP and inverse FIP effect. We also provide the radiated power loss functions for the two inverse FIP effect scenarios in machine readable form to facilitate further modeling.