Evolution of Hot Plasma in Flares
Abstract
This review discusses, in particular, X-ray manifestations of the development of hot flare plasma during the cooling phase of flares. In a preexisting coronal configuration, a small flare source can excite much larger coronal loops and arches, of which only the footpoints become visible if their density is low, or their whole structures can be seen if density is high enough. Flaring arches, through which both cool and, hot plasma flows from the primary flare source to a secondary footpoint, are the most spectacular phenomena of this kind. In other cases the flaring loops did not exist before, but have been newly formed during the flare process. These are the eruptive flares, in which the preflare field lines are first disrupted and subsequently reconnect. The main part of this review is devoted to the development of hot plasma in this particular kind of flaring structures. It is emphasized that X-ray observations of growing systems of loops in eruptive flares, and giant arches following these flares high in the corona, require large fields of view pointed for several hours at the active region in which the flare occurred. This makes their observations with SOLAR-A rather difficult, but one should realize that SOLAR-A represents the only means for studying these coronal components of the most important solar flares until, at least, the end of this century.
- Publication:
-
Flare Physics in Solar Activity Maximum 22
- Pub Date:
- 1991
- DOI:
- 10.1007/BFb0032634
- Bibcode:
- 1991LNP...387..165S