Empirical studies of solar flares: Comparison of X-ray and H alpha filtergrams and analysis of the energy balance of the X-ray plasma

The physics of solar flares was investigated through a combined analysis of X-ray filtergrams of the high temperature coronal component of flares and H alpha filtergrams of the low temperature chromospheric component. The data were used to study the magnetic field configuration and its changes in solar flares, and to examine the chromospheric location and structure of X-ray bright points (XPB) and XPB flares. Each topic and the germane data are discussed. The energy balance of the thermal X-ray plasma in flares, while not studied, is addressed.