P. Kaufmann

THE USE OF THE LARGE MM-WAVE ANTENNA AT ITAPETINGA IN HIGH-SENSITIVITY SOLAR RESEARCH

Large dishes used in solar radio astronomy are becoming an essential tool for the analysis of low level activity and fine time structures in solar bursts. Some front-end and back-end arrangements have been added to the Itapetinga 13.7-m radome-enclosed antenna to allow for simultaneous 22 GHz and 44 GHz observations; 22 GHz right- and left-handed circular polarization (or two linear orthogonal), with sensitivities of the order of 0.03 s.f.u., and time resolution of 1 ms. Full Sun maps can be obtained every 6 min, and selected active region maps every 3 min. Spatial angular definition of positions of active-region hot spots is close to 10 arc sec. This system is being used in a number of specific investigations, in SMM satellite related research, and in other internationally coordinated works. Examples of results are shown.

Five minute microwave solar oscillations

Oscillations with a period of 5.6 min were observed on 10 July, 1978 while tracking at 22 GHz the active region McMath 15403. The oscillations were strong, clearly defined, had no damping, and lasted for about two hours. The rarity of the phenomenon is indicated by the fact that it occurred only once in more than 250 hr of solar observations. The possibility that these oscillations are due to a standing Alfvén wave driven by the photospheric velocity field is discussed.

A multibeam antenna for solar MM-wave burst observations with high spatial and temporal resolution

In this paper a new method for the determination of the position of microwave burst sources on the Sun, its implementation and first observational results, are presented. The 13.7 m antenna at Itapetinga with a five-channel receiver operating at 48 GHz and with a time resolution of 1 ms is used. Five horn antennas clustered around the focus of the Cassegrain reflector provide 5 beams diverging by about 2′. This configuration allows the observation of different parts of an active region and the determination of the center of the burst position with an accuracy of 5″ to 20″ depending on the angular distance relative to the antenna axis. The field of view is ≈ 2′ by ≈ 4′. The time resolution of 1 ms is suitable to search for fast structures at 48 GHz. A total bandwidth of 400 MHz is used in order to achieve a sensitivity of 0.04 s.f.u. sufficient for the detection of weak bursts. First observational results of the flare on May 11, 1991 show a well-located source position during all stages.

Interpretation of fast ripple structure in solar impulsive bursts

AbstractThe hypothesis that solar impulsive bursts are comprised of quasi-quantised ultrarapid pulses convoluted with a variable pulse repetition rate R(t) is investigated by comparison of typical observations with numerical simulations. It is found that:(a)The ripple amplitude at burst peak increases rapidly with increase in the ratio Δ/T of pulse separation to pulse width. Consequently pulse widths T are generally much larger than the observed period Δt of small amplitude ripples.(b)In order to give a ripple amplitude of at least a few percent at burst peak together with reasonable burst rise and fall times without unreasonable ripple amplitude during rise and fall, the individual pulse shape must be sharply peaked but have substantial wings while the repetition rate R(t) must fall gradually away from its peak value but cut off rapidly in its wings.nAs a specific example, we present a simulation of the fast ripple structures observed in the impulsive 22 GHz burst of December 18, 1980.The relevance of these conclusions to physical modelling is briefly discussed.

Persistent 1.5 s oscillations superimposed to a solar burst observed at two mm-wavelengths

Long-enduring quasi-periodic oscilations (1.5s) superimposed upon a solar burst have for the first time been observed simultaneously at two different mm-wavelengths (22 GHz and 44 GHz). The oscillations were present throughout the burst duration (about 10 min), and were delayed at 44 GHz with respect to 22 GHz by 0.3 s. The relative amplitude of the oscillation was of about 20% at 44 GHz and of about 5% at 22 GHz. Interferometer measurements at 10.6 GHz indicated the burst source position stable within 1 arc sec. An He i D3 line flare showed two persistent small spots separated by about 10 arc sec. The 22/44 GHz burst position corresponds well with the location of the He i D3 spots. The oscillations display features which distinguish them from ultrafast time structures found in other bursts. One possible interpretation is a modulation of the synchrotron emission of trapped electrons by a variable magnetic field on a double burst source, optically thin at 44 GHz and with optical thickness ⪞ 0.3 at 22 GHz.

Spatial positions of fast-time structures of a solar burst observed at 48 GHz

The impulsive solar burst of October 28, 1992 showed temporal and spatial fine structures that were observed at 48 GHz with the multi-beam antenna of the Itapetinga Radio Observatory. The relative positions of burst centroids were determined with a spatial accuracy of 2″, with a temporal resolution of 1 millisecond. The burst intensity time profile shows fast pulses of about one second duration, superimposed by subsecond time structures. The spatial analysis of the fast pulses suggests that the emission originated from distinct locations, separated by about 5″. Our results favour the idea that impulsive solar bursts are a superposition of small elementary events spread both in time and space, probably resulting from discontinuous energy release processes.

Time delays in solar bursts measured in the mm-cm range of wavelengths

Various solar bursts have been analysed with high sensitivity (0.03 sfu, rms) and high-time resolution (1 ms) at two frequencies in the millimeter wave range (22 GHz and 44 GHz), and with moderate time resolution (100 ms) by a patrol telescope at a frequency in the microwave range (7 GHz). It was found that, in most cases, burst maximum emission is not coincident in time at those frequencies. Preceding maximum emission can be either at the higher or at the lower frequency. Time delays ranged from about 3 s to near coincidence, defined within 10 ms. Some complex bursts presented all kinds of delays among different time structures, and sometimes nearly uncorrelated time structures.Large time delays favour the association of the dynamic effects to shock wave speeds. Directional particle acceleration in complex magnetic configuration could be considered to explain the variety of the dynamic effects. Fastest burst rise times observed, less than 50 ms at 44 GHz and at 22 GHz, might be associated to limiting formation times of emission sources combined with various absorption mechanisms at the source and surrounding plasma.

Low-level decimetric (1.6 GHz) solar burst activity

Observations of solar bursts at 1.6 GHz were carried out in the month of July 1985 for about two weeks. Five intervals of solar burst activity, each one lasting for a couple of minutes, were observed. Predominantly, two classes of fast bursts were observed: viz: ‘spike’ and ‘blips’. However, some of these bursts were two orders of magnitude less intense than those reported earlier.Low-level blips have typical duration ∼ 350 ms, excitation time ∼ 200 ± 25 ms, decay time ∼ 130 ± 25 ms and a low degree of circular polarization of about 15%. Detailed investigations of decay times of the blips have been carried out in terms of collisional damping and Landau damping. Observed decay times of the blips seem to favour the hypothesis of collisional damping. This investigation suggests that blips probably originate at second harmonic by beam plasma interaction as that of metric type III bursts. Also, low-level ms-spikes with the half power duration in the range of 5 to 20 ms suggest that source sizes be smaller than 50 km if the process of emission is electron-cyclotron maser.

Timing analysis of hard X-ray emission and 22 GHz flux and polarization in a solar burst

A solar flare occurring on 26 February, 1981 at 19:32 UT was observed simultaneously in hard X-rays and microwaves with a time resolution of a fraction of a second. The X-ray observations were made with the Hard X-ray Monitor on Hinotori, and the microwave observations were made at 22 GHz with the 13.7 m Itapetinga mm-wave antenna. Timing accuracy was restricted to 62.5 ms, the best time resolution obtained in hard X-rays for this burst. We find that: (a) all 22 GHz flux structures were delayed by 0.2–0.9 s relative to similar structures in hard X-rays throughout the burst duration; (b) different burst structures showed different delays, suggesting that they are independent of each other; (c) the time structures of the degree of polarization at 22 GHz precede the total microwave flux time structures by 0.1–0.5 s; (d) The time evolutions of time delays of microwaves with respect to hard X-rays and also the degree of microwave polarization show fluctuations with are not clearly related to any other time structures. If we take mean values for the 32 s burst duration, we find that hard X-ray emission precedes the degree of microwave polarization by 450 ms, which in turn precedes the total microwave flux by 110 ms.

Fast time structures superimposed to impulsive solar microwave bursts with slowly varying or stationary polarization degree

The ultimate definition of fast time structures superimposed on an impulsive solar microwave burst is limited by instrumental time resolution and sensitivity. We analysed 7 GHz bursts with a time constant of 100 ms. The fast time structures seem to be common to all events, although the resolution so far attained might still be smoothing out structures with finer scale. The polarization degree does not show corresponding fast changes. When the degree of circular polarization is referred to the bursts excess flux, it may show a slowly varying time development. When it is referred to the total active center contribution, the polarization degree might become nearly unchanged during the burst development. The polarization degree is set by the large scale magnetic field strength and morphology over the active center and the burst source. The present results suggest that the microwave fast component burst source might remain nearly stationary in relation to the polarizing medium, occupying the same position as the active center hot spot previous to the event. The absence of fast time structures in polarization degree indicate negligible fast changes in the large scale magnetic field which pervades the burst source. Slow changes in polarization degree are sometimes associated with the slow component of impulsive events, and might be representative of secondary accelerations interpreted in terms of trap models. We discuss qualitatively some energy conversion mechanisms based on turbulent processes which may account for the fast burst components.