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X-Ray Source Heights in a Solar Flare: Thick-Target Versus Thermal Conduction Front HeatingObservations of solar flares with RHESSI have shown X-ray sources traveling along flaring loops, from the corona down to the chromosphere and back up. The 2002 November 28 C1.1 flare, first observed with RHESSI by Sui et al. and quantitatively analyzed by O'Flannagain et al., very clearly shows this behavior. By employing numerical experiments, we use these observations of X-ray source height motions as a constraint to distinguish between heating due to a non-thermal electron beam and in situ energy deposition in the corona. We find that both heating scenarios can reproduce the observed light curves, but our results favor non-thermal heating. In situ heating is inconsistent with the observed X-ray source morphology and always gives a height dispersion with photon energy opposite to what is observed.
Document ID
20170003761
Acquisition Source
Goddard Space Flight Center
Document Type
Reprint (Version printed in journal)
Authors
Reep, J. W.
(Naval Research Lab. Washington, DC, United States)
Bradshaw, S. J.
(Rice Univ. Houston, TX, United States)
Holman, G. D.
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD United States)
Date Acquired
April 20, 2017
Publication Date
February 5, 2016
Publication Information
Publication: The Astrophysical Journal
Publisher: The American Astronomical Society
Volume: 818
Issue: 1
ISSN: 0004-637X
e-ISSN: 1538-4357
Subject Category
Solar Physics
Report/Patent Number
GSFC-E-DAA-TN41070
Funding Number(s)
CONTRACT_GRANT: NNX11AQ54H
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other

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