A coronal explosion on the flare star CN Leonis

Details A coronal explosion on the flare star CN Leonis A coronal explosion on the flare star CN Leonis

2008-01-24

arxiv.org/abs/0801.3752v1

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astrophysics

7 pages, accepted by A&A

Scientific paper

10.1051/0004-6361:20079017

We present simultaneous high-temporal and high-spectral resolution observations at optical and soft X-ray wavelengths of the nearby flare star CN Leo. During our observing campaign a major flare occurred, raising the star's instantaneous energy output by almost three orders of magnitude. The flare shows the often observed impulsive behavior, with a rapid rise and slow decay in the optical and a broad soft X-ray maximum about 200 seconds after the optical flare peak. However, in addition to this usually encountered flare phenomenology we find an extremely short (~2 sec) soft X-ray peak, which is very likely of thermal, rather than non-thermal nature and temporally coincides with the optical flare peak. While at hard X-ray energies non-thermal bursts are routinely observed on the Sun at flare onset, thermal soft X-ray bursts on time scales of seconds have never been observed in a solar nor stellar context. Time-dependent, one-dimensional hydrodynamic modeling of this event requires an extremely short energy deposition time scale of a few seconds to reconcile theory with observations, thus suggesting that we are witnessing the results of a coronal explosion on CN Leo. Thus the flare on CN Leo provides the opportunity to observationally study the physics of the long-sought "micro-flares" thought to be responsible for coronal heating.

Affiliated with

Also associated with

No associations

Rating

A coronal explosion on the flare star CN Leonis does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.

If you have personal experience with A coronal explosion on the flare star CN Leonis, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and A coronal explosion on the flare star CN Leonis will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

Comments { 0 }

Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-283220