Investigating the Dependency of Footpoint Temperature on Hard X-ray Energy using AIA Dispersion Spectra and RHESSI Imaging
Abstract
The nature of energy deposition in solar flares remains largely a mystery. There have been many studies, analyzing the energy and temperature distributions of solar flares throughout their lifetime, though few that directly characterize the temperature distribution of flaring footpoint plasma as a function of footpoint energy. Here we will use the SDO/AIA dispersion spectra technique (Raftery et al. 2011) to identify the differential emission measure distribution of individual flaring ribbons as a function of time. We will interpret the distributions with respect to the energies observed in those footpoints using RHESSI imaging and spectroscopy techniques. In doing so, we will be directly observing the changes in the temperature response of the footpoint plasma to electron beams of varying energies.
- Publication:
-
American Astronomical Society Meeting Abstracts #220
- Pub Date:
- May 2012
- Bibcode:
- 2012AAS...22030906R