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The initial development of solar flares

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Abstract

The extent to which the early phases of solar-flare development can be accounted for by a simple high-temperature chromospheric explosion model is investigated without involving a particular energy source. A model is developed in which it is shown that a point explosion in the lower chromosphere can be treated as a virtually instantaneous release of energy throughout a volume of radius R ≈ 100 km, which subsequently expands as a classical hydrodynamic blast wave in which R~ t α (α < 2/3). This model is in substantial agreement with areal growth-rate observations of disk flares. An explanation for the fact that limb-flare observations can imply α > 2/3 is suggested by considering the effects of the large atmospheric density gradient in the lower chromosphere on an upward travelling shock wave.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Astronomy Dept., University of Leicester, Leicester, England

    J. F. Vesecky & A. J. Meadows

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  1. J. F. Vesecky
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  2. A. J. Meadows
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Vesecky, J.F., Meadows, A.J. The initial development of solar flares. Sol Phys 6, 80–85 (1969). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00146798

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00146798

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