Measuring the Super-Hot Component with the BATSE Spectroscopy Detectors
Abstract
The discovery of the "super-hot" component by Lin, Schwartz et al. (1981) was the first clear identification of thermal bremsstrahlung emission at hard X-ray energies above 15 keV during a solar flare. By using balloon-borne germanium detectors with energy resolution better than 1 keV FWHM, the super-hot component was detected shortly after the peak of the impulsive phase non-thermal emission. During the flare decay, the measured photon spectrum was fitted well by the emission from a 35 million degree plasma with an emission measure of 3 times 10(48) cm(-3) over an energy range of 15-35 keV. Similar measurements have been unobtainable since the original 27 June 1980 balloon flight. Using the data obtained with the Burst and Transient Source Experiment Spectroscopy (SPEC) detectors on the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory, we have been able to detect steep spectra above 10 keV during the decay phase of flares which must be due to super-hot component emission. Although the SPEC detector energy resolution, 4 keV FWHM @ 10 keV, is not as good as that of germanium, it is still possible to measure the spectral parameters of the super-hot component. We will present super-hot component spectra from several flares, their fitted parameters and an estimate of their uncertainties. Lin, R.P., Schwartz, R.A., et al. 1981, Ap. J. (Letters), 251, L109.
- Publication:
-
American Astronomical Society Meeting Abstracts #180
- Pub Date:
- May 1992
- Bibcode:
- 1992AAS...180.4006S