A synchrotron/inverse Compton interpretation of a solar burst producing fast pulses at lambda less than 3-mm and hard X-rays

An analysis of the May 21, 1984 fast pulse solar burst detected by the Solar Maximum Mission satellite associates the observed mm-wave emission with a synchrotron component, and hard X-rays with the inverse Compton process. The observed less-than-3-mm wavelength emission is in the optically thick part of a spectrum peaking in the infrared range of frequencies, and the electron energies are reduced primarily by inverse Compton quenching on the synchrotron-source photons. The model explains the X-rays/sub-mm flux ratio and the short time scales, and accounts for typical fluxes reported for white light flares. The synchrotron emission component should peak at about 10 to the 13th Hz, and the burst sources should be of short 60 ms duration, of less than 10 million cm size, and should exhibit high 10 billion K apparent brightness temperatures. The present model indicates a more modest energy supply and total number of electrons than suggested by previous models.