Heat flux saturation in hydrodynamic soft X-ray solar flare plasmas

✍ Scribed by I. J. D. Craig; J. W. Davys

• Publisher: Springer
• Year: 1984
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 699 KB
• Volume: 90
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0038-0938
• DOI: 10.1007/bf00173962

✦ Synopsis

The role of heat flux limitation in soft X-ray emitting solar flare plasmas is considered. Simple analytic arguments suggest that flux limitation is likely to be important during the explosive heating phase, even for relatively modest coronal energy fluxes (say < 109 erg cm-2 s -1). This conclusion is reinforced by a detailed flare loop simulation of the heating phase. Since flux saturation effectively 'bottles up' the coronal heat flux, mass motions now assume a dominant role in transferring energy from the coronal flare source to the lower transition region. The mass-energy exchange between the corona and chromosphere produces dramatic changes in the thermal structure of the plasma which are reflected in the differential emission measure profile of the flaring loop.