"Electron Densities in Solar Flare Loops, Chromospheric Evaporation Upflows, and Acceleration Sites," Aschwanden M. J., and Benz, A. O., Ap. J. 480, 825­39 (1997).

Click on the image above for a larger .gif version, or get the .pdf file.

This version of the bipolar flare model illustrates its predictions for decimeter-wave dynamic spectra. The really interesting observation invoked here is the occurrence of simultaneous foward-slope and reverse-slope (RS) Type III bursts, pointing to the actual X point of the reconnection model as the site of the particle acceleration. This is rarely observed, perhaps because the density shown for this X point (and needed for the dm-wave emission) is extraordinarily high for such a region in the solar corona. I am not sure what the DCIM refers to. These radio astronomers prefer nomenclature above all else!

Our resident in-house cartoon critic will quickly point out, however, that this cartoon has no open field lines, and that in particular the "upward beams" electrons do not find themselves on open field lines. Thus this cartoon cannot explain a _real_ type III burst, which we believe to occur on very large-scale open field lines that reach to the Earth and beyond.

October 29, 2002
August 22, 2008

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