Transient ionization and solar flare X-ray spectra

In this paper the effects of a transiently ionizing solar flare plasma on the X-ray spectrum of iron between 1.85 and 1.92 A are considered. The atomic physics of the nonequilibrium spectrum is discussed, and reasons for differences in appearance from ionization equilibrium spectra are explained. The effect of spectral resolution on the ability to detect transient ionization in the iron X-ray spectrum is illustrated by synthetic spectra. A synthetic transiently ionizing spectrum is applied to the interpretation of spectra obtained from the SOX 1 spectrometer on the Japanese Hinotori spacecraft. Some indications of transient ionization are found, although counting statistics negate a strong conclusion. A hypothetical spectrometer with about one order of magnitude more sensitivity than the SOX 1 Hinotori or the bent crystal spectrometer flown on the Solar Maximum Mission (SMM) is also considered. The ranges of plasma parameters such as plasma emission measure and density that are necessary for transient ionization to be detected by such an instrument are discussed.