Science with an ngVLA: Radio Observations of Solar Flares

TL;DR

This paper discusses how the next-generation Very Large Array (ngVLA) can revolutionize solar flare studies by providing high-resolution, broad-spectrum radio observations, complementing existing multi-wavelength data to deepen understanding of flare physics.

Contribution

It highlights the potential of ngVLA to advance solar flare diagnostics through enhanced imaging spectropolarimetry, building on recent successes with JVLA and EOVSA.

Findings

Radio observations reveal detailed flare physics.

ngVLA offers unprecedented spatial and spectral resolution.

Multi-wavelength synergy enhances understanding of solar eruptions.

Abstract

Solar flares are due to the catastrophic release of magnetic energy in the Sun's corona, resulting in plasma heating, mass motions, particle acceleration, and radiation emitted from radio to $\gamma$-ray wavelengths. They are associated with global coronal eruptions of plasma into the interplanetary medium---coronal mass ejections---that can result in a variety of "space weather" phenomena. Flares release energy over a vast range of energies, from $\sim\!10^{23}$ ergs (nanoflares) to more than $10^{32}$ ergs. Solar flares are a phenomenon of general astrophysical interest, allowing detailed study of magnetic energy release, eruptive processes, shock formation and propagation, particle acceleration and transport, and radiative processes. Observations at radio wavelengths offer unique diagnostics of the physics of flares. To fully exploit these diagnostics requires the means of performing time-resolved imaging spectropolarimetry. Recent observations with the Jansky Very Large Array (JVLA) and the Expanded Owens Valley Solar Array (EOVSA), supported by extensive development in forward modeling, have demonstrated the power of the approach. The ngVLA has the potential to bring our understanding of flare processes to a new level through its combination of high spatial resolution, broad frequency range, and imaging dynamic range---especially when used in concert with multi-wavelength observations and data at hard X-ray energies.