Relationship between coronal mass ejections and solar flares

X-ray observations show that at a time consistent with a coronal mass ejection onset there is a small, soft X-ray burst (precursor). Generally this is followed some 20-30 m later by a more significant flare. At the onset time there is frequency simultaneous activity from widely separated points on the sun (greater than 100,000 km). A model is presented which accounts for the relationship between the coronal mass ejection and the precursor using 100 to 1000 keV protons as the energy transfer agent. The protons heat the high coronal loop, inferred from the simultaneous activity, destabilizing the pressure balance to produce the ejection and are guided by the magnetic field to below the transition region where they heat the chromospheric plasma to produce the precursor X-rays. High correlation between these events and a subsequent flare suggests that there may be a feedback mechanism operating from the coronal mass ejection