Cold Solar Flares I. Microwave Domain

TL;DR

This study analyzes approximately 100 cold solar flares in the microwave range, revealing their spectral characteristics, temporal evolution, and dense loop environments, thereby extending previous X-ray focused research.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed microwave spectral analysis of cold flares, confirming previous X-ray findings and highlighting dense loop conditions through the Razin effect evidence.

Findings

Cold flares have shorter durations and higher spectral peak frequencies.

Most cold flares show the Razin effect, indicating dense flaring loops.

Some cold flares exhibit moderate and low peak frequencies.

Abstract

We identify a set of ~100 "cold" solar flares and perform a statistical analysis of them in the microwave range. Cold flares are characterized by a weak thermal response relative to nonthermal emission. This work is a follow up of a previous statistical study of cold flares, which focused on hard X-ray emission to quantify the flare nonthermal component. Here we focus on the microwave emission. The thermal response is represented by the soft X-ray emission measured by the GOES X-ray sensors. We obtain spectral parameters of the flare gyrosynchrotron emission and investigate patterns of the temporal evolution. The main results of the previous statistical study are confirmed: as compared to a "mean" flare, the cold flares have shorter durations, higher spectral peak frequencies, and harder spectral indices above the spectral peak. Nonetheless, there are some cold flares with moderate and low peak frequencies. In a majority of cold flares, we find evidence suggesting the presence of the Razin effect in the microwave spectra, indicative of rather dense flaring loops. We discuss the results in the context of electron acceleration efficiency.