Energy Release and Dissipation during Giant Solar Flares

Details Energy Release and Dissipation during Giant Solar Flares Energy Release and Dissipation during Giant Solar Flares

Jun 1995

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1995apj...446l..47k&link_type=abstract

Astrophysical Journal Letters v.446, p.L47

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astronomy

31

Sun: Flares, Sun: X-Rays, Gamma Rays, Acceleration Of Particles

Scientific paper

The Solar X-Ray/Cosmic Gamma-Ray Burst Experiment aboard Ulysses has observed 11 solar hard X-ray flares with effective peak counting rates greater than 4 × 105 counts s-1. We have estimated the energy dissipated during these "giant" flares (GOES class > X12). The flare on 1991 June 1, probably the largest flare of the present solar activity cycle (cycle 22), may represent energy dissipation by greater than 20 keV electrons at a rate of ˜1032 ergs s-1, a rate of energy release ˜1000 times larger than that in the well-studied flares in 1972 August. The total energy released during the flare would then have been ˜1034 ergs carried by ˜1041 electrons with energies above 20 keV, assuming a nonthermal interpretation, or ≲ 2 × 1033 ergs assuming a thermal interpretation. The energy release rate in the other giant flares could have been 1030-1031 ergs s-1. The resources of an active region seem to be inadequate for the production of these energies. It is suggested that the instability that triggers the energy release during a solar flare may affect the corona globally (rather than only locally). Although our energy estimates are subject to large uncertainties, they may be confirmed by future Ulysses observations.

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