Welcome to the new version of CaltechAUTHORS. Login is currently restricted to library staff. If you notice any issues, please email coda@library.caltech.edu
Published November 1, 2012 | Published
Journal Article Open

Global Energetics of Thirty-Eight Large Solar Eruptive Events

Abstract

We have evaluated the energetics of 38 solar eruptive events observed by a variety of spacecraft instruments between 2002 February and 2006 December, as accurately as the observations allow. The measured energetic components include: (1) the radiated energy in the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite 1-8 Å band, (2) the total energy radiated from the soft X-ray (SXR) emitting plasma, (3) the peak energy in the SXR-emitting plasma, (4) the bolometric radiated energy over the full duration of the event, (5) the energy in flare-accelerated electrons above 20 keV and in flare-accelerated ions above 1 MeV, (6) the kinetic and potential energies of the coronal mass ejection (CME), (7) the energy in solar energetic particles (SEPs) observed in interplanetary space, and (8) the amount of free (non-potential) magnetic energy estimated to be available in the pertinent active region. Major conclusions include: (1) the energy radiated by the SXR-emitting plasma exceeds, by about half an order of magnitude, the peak energy content of the thermal plasma that produces this radiation; (2) the energy content in flare-accelerated electrons and ions is sufficient to supply the bolometric energy radiated across all wavelengths throughout the event; (3) the energy contents of flare-accelerated electrons and ions are comparable; (4) the energy in SEPs is typically a few percent of the CME kinetic energy (measured in the rest frame of the solar wind); and (5) the available magnetic energy is sufficient to power the CME, the flare-accelerated particles, and the hot thermal plasma.

Additional Information

© 2012 American Astronomical Society. Received 2012 July 1; accepted 2012 September 17; published 2012 October 17. We thank Gordon Holman, Richard Schwartz, and Kim Tolbert for help with analyzing the GOES and RHESSI data, and Anil Gopie for doing most of the GOES data analysis. We also thank the referee for an unusually comprehensive and thorough review of the originally submitted version of this manuscript, which resulted in a significantly improved paper. A.G.E. was supported by NASA Grant NNX10AT78J, R.A.M. by NASA Grants NNX08AI11G and NNX11AO75G, and A.V. by various NASA grants to the Naval Research Laboratory. SOHO is a joint ESA and NASA mission. CHIANTI is a collaborative project involving researchers at NRL (USA), RAL (UK), and the Universities of Cambridge (UK), George Mason (USA), and Florence (Italy).

Attached Files

Published - 0004-637X_759_1_71.pdf

Files

0004-637X_759_1_71.pdf
Files (628.2 kB)
Name Size Download all
md5:60b6f5d71ab9f646b9584be1684b4ac2
628.2 kB Preview Download

Additional details

Created:
August 22, 2023
Modified:
October 20, 2023