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Solar X-Band Imaging with the Arecibo 12-m Telescope: The Brightness Temperature and Magnetic Field of Active Regions

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Abstract

Solar radio observations provide a powerful diagnostic of the physical conditions of the solar atmosphere over a wide range of heights. In this paper, we report regular solar mapping made at the X-band (8.1 – 9.2 GHz) with the Arecibo 12-m radio telescope, covering a period between 13 December 2021 and 9 April 2023. This has demonstrated its potential for identifying active regions and tracking their brightness-temperature changes. The X-band results are discussed along with the near-simultaneous datasets available from space- and ground-based observations. A comparison of magnetic properties of active regions with their emission characteristics indicates that the X-band brightness temperature provides better information of the magnetic-field strength associated with the emission and a brightness temperature in excess of 13 000 K allows us to infer the possibility of intense flares (i.e., ≳ M1 class) and coronal mass ejections. The ‘latitude–time’ distribution of the brightness temperature reveals the three-dimensional evolution of quiet regions on the Sun, coronal holes, and eruptive sites, over many solar rotations in the ascending phase of the current Solar Cycle 25.

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Data Availability

The observed X-band datasets analyzed in the current study are available at the Arecibo Observatory data archive maintained at the Texas Advanced Computing Center (www.tacc.utexas.edu/about/help/). The solar X-band images generated during the current study are available from the corresponding author on request. The supportive images and data used in this study are all publicly available.

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Acknowledgments

PKM wishes to thank Tapasi Ghosh for the numerous useful discussions and suggestions during the stages of analysis and the preparation of the manuscript.

Funding

The Arecibo Observatory is operated by the University of Central Florida under a cooperative agreement with the National Science Foundation (AST-1822073), and in alliance with Universidad Ana G. Méndez and Yang Enterprises, Inc. P.K.M., P.P., F.F., B.P., A.V., and C.M.B. are supported by the above NSF fund.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Arecibo Observatory, University of Central Florida, Arecibo, PR, 00612, USA

    Periasamy K. Manoharan, Christopher J. Salter, Ben Perera & Christiano M. Brum

  2. Space Vehicles Directorate, Air Force Research Laboratory, Albuquerque, NM, USA

    Stephen M. White

  3. Arecibo Observatory, Yang Enterprises Inc., Arecibo, PR, 00612, USA

    Phil Perillat, Felix Fernandez & Arun Venkataraman

Authors
  1. Periasamy K. Manoharan
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  2. Christopher J. Salter
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  3. Stephen M. White
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  4. Phil Perillat
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  5. Felix Fernandez
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  6. Ben Perera
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  7. Arun Venkataraman
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  8. Christiano M. Brum
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Contributions

Manoharan did observations and analysis of the data. Manoharan, Salter, and White wrote the main manuscript text. Perera partial planing of the observations. Perillat, Fernandez, Venkataraman, and Brum helped in the maintenance and operation of the observing system. All authors reviewed the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Periasamy K. Manoharan.

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Manoharan, P.K., Salter, C.J., White, S.M. et al. Solar X-Band Imaging with the Arecibo 12-m Telescope: The Brightness Temperature and Magnetic Field of Active Regions. Sol Phys 298, 124 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11207-023-02217-3

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