Published January 10, 2020 | Version v1
Journal article

Quasi-periodic Pulsations of Gamma-Ray Emissions from a Solar Flare on 2017 September 6

  • 1. Key Laboratory of Dark Matter and Space Astronomy, Purple Mountain Observatory, CAS, Nanjing 210033 (China)
  • 2. Centre for Fusion, Space and Astrophysics, Department of Physics, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL (United Kingdom)

Description

We investigate quasi-periodic pulsations (QPPs) of high-energy nonthermal emissions from an X9.3 flare (SOL2017-Sep-06T11:53), the most powerful flare since the beginning of solar cycle 24. The QPPs are identified as a series of regular and repeating peaks in the light curves in the γ- and hard X-ray (HXR) channels recorded by the Konus-Wind, as well as the radio and microwave fluxes measured by the CALLISTO radio spectrograph during the impulsive phase. The periods are determined from the global wavelet and Fourier power spectra as 24–30 s in the HXR and microwave channels, which are associated with nonthermal electrons, and ∼20 s in the γ-ray band related to nonthermal ions. Both nonthermal electrons and ions may be accelerated by repetitive magnetic reconnection during the impulsive phase. However, we could not rule out other mechanisms, such as magnetohydrodynamic oscillation in a sausage mode. The QPP detected in this study is useful for understanding the particle acceleration and dynamic process in solar flares and also bridging the gap between stellar and solar flares because the energy realm of the X9.3 solar flare is almost comparable to a typical stellar flare.

Availability note (English)

Available from http://dx.doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ab5e86

Additional details

Identifiers

Publishing Information

Journal Title
Astrophysical Journal
Journal Volume
888
Journal Issue
2
Journal Page Range
[9 p.]
ISSN
0004-637X
CODEN
ASJOAB