Solar flare accelerates nearly all electrons in a large coronal volume.

ABSTRACT: Solar flares, driven by prompt release of free magnetic energy in the solar corona^1,2, are known to accelerate a substantial portion (ten per cent or more)^3,4 of available electrons to high energies. Hard X-rays, produced by high-energy electrons accelerated in the flare⁵, require a high ambient density for their detection. This restricts the observed volume to denser regions that do not necessarily sample the entire volume of accelerated electrons⁶. Here we report evolving spatially resolved distributions of thermal and non-thermal electrons in a solar flare derived from microwave observations that show the true extent of the acceleration region. These distributions show a volume filled with only (or almost only) non-thermal electrons while bein

SUBMITTER: Fleishman GD 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9217745 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature