Evidence of Extreme-ultraviolet Resonant Excitation in the Middle Corona during a Solar Flare

We present observations of an eruptive solar flare on 2016 January 6 that occurred behind the solar limb from the perspective of the Earth, but was well observed by the Solar-Terrestrial Relations Observatory (or STEREO) and the Solar Extreme Ultraviolet Monitor on NASA's Mars Atmosphere and Vo...

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Main Authors: Daniel B. Seaton, Cooper Downs, Giulio Del Zanna, Matthew J. West, Edward M. B. Thiemann, Amir Caspi, Edward E. DeLuca, Leon Golub, James Paul Mason, Ritesh Patel, Katharine K. Reeves, Yeimy J. Rivera, Sabrina L. Savage
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: IOP Publishing 2025-01-01
Series:The Astrophysical Journal
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Online Access:https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/adcab5
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author Daniel B. Seaton
Cooper Downs
Giulio Del Zanna
Matthew J. West
Edward M. B. Thiemann
Amir Caspi
Edward E. DeLuca
Leon Golub
James Paul Mason
Ritesh Patel
Katharine K. Reeves
Yeimy J. Rivera
Sabrina L. Savage
author_facet Daniel B. Seaton
Cooper Downs
Giulio Del Zanna
Matthew J. West
Edward M. B. Thiemann
Amir Caspi
Edward E. DeLuca
Leon Golub
James Paul Mason
Ritesh Patel
Katharine K. Reeves
Yeimy J. Rivera
Sabrina L. Savage
author_sort Daniel B. Seaton
collection DOAJ
description We present observations of an eruptive solar flare on 2016 January 6 that occurred behind the solar limb from the perspective of the Earth, but was well observed by the Solar-Terrestrial Relations Observatory (or STEREO) and the Solar Extreme Ultraviolet Monitor on NASA's Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) mission. Light curves showing the evolution of the flare’s irradiance as a function of time taken by MAVEN are well correlated with the brightness evolution of fan structures observed in the Project for On-Board Autonomy 2's Sun Watcher with Active Pixels and Image Processing (SWAP) 174 Å passband, suggesting that the radiance of structures near the flare site was influenced by emission from the flare. Because SWAP did not directly observe the flare itself, this event represents a rare opportunity to study the evolution of emission near a flare without the risk of instrumental scattered light contaminating the observations. We analyze this evolution and implement a simple model to explore the possibility that resonant excitation (RE, also known as resonant scattering) plays an important role in driving coronal extreme-ultraviolet (EUV) emission during flaring events. Our modeling shows that for a large flare, RE could increase emission from nearby structures by about 45%, consistent with our findings that the involved structures observed by SWAP increased in brightness by about 60% during the flare. We conclude that RE may play an important role in driving coronal EUV emission under certain circumstances and should be accounted for in models and emission-based analysis tools.
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spelling doaj-art-e396a0fdb04b42149513b571360fedfc2025-08-20T03:49:45ZengIOP PublishingThe Astrophysical Journal1538-43572025-01-0198518910.3847/1538-4357/adcab5Evidence of Extreme-ultraviolet Resonant Excitation in the Middle Corona during a Solar FlareDaniel B. Seaton0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0494-2025Cooper Downs1https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1759-4354Giulio Del Zanna2https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4125-0204Matthew J. West3https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0631-2393Edward M. B. Thiemann4https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5305-9466Amir Caspi5https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8702-8273Edward E. DeLuca6https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7416-2895Leon Golub7https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9638-3082James Paul Mason8https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3783-5509Ritesh Patel9https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8504-2725Katharine K. Reeves10https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6903-6832Yeimy J. Rivera11https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8748-2123Sabrina L. Savage12https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6172-0517Southwest Research Institute , Boulder, CO 80302, USAPredictive Science Inc. , San Diego, CA 92121, USADAMTP, Center for Mathematical Sciences, University of Cambridge , Cambridge, CB3 0WA, UK; School of Physics & Astronomy, University of Leicester , Leicester, LE1 7RH, UKSouthwest Research Institute , Boulder, CO 80302, USA; European Space Agency , European Space Research and Technology Centre, Noordwijk, The NetherlandsLaboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, University of Colorado , Boulder, CO 80305, USASouthwest Research Institute , Boulder, CO 80302, USACenter for Astrophysics—Harvard & Smithsonian , 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USACenter for Astrophysics—Harvard & Smithsonian , 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USAJohns Hopkins University , Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, MD 20723-6099, USASouthwest Research Institute , Boulder, CO 80302, USACenter for Astrophysics—Harvard & Smithsonian , 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USACenter for Astrophysics—Harvard & Smithsonian , 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USANASA Marshall Space Flight Center , Huntsville, AL 35808, USAWe present observations of an eruptive solar flare on 2016 January 6 that occurred behind the solar limb from the perspective of the Earth, but was well observed by the Solar-Terrestrial Relations Observatory (or STEREO) and the Solar Extreme Ultraviolet Monitor on NASA's Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) mission. Light curves showing the evolution of the flare’s irradiance as a function of time taken by MAVEN are well correlated with the brightness evolution of fan structures observed in the Project for On-Board Autonomy 2's Sun Watcher with Active Pixels and Image Processing (SWAP) 174 Å passband, suggesting that the radiance of structures near the flare site was influenced by emission from the flare. Because SWAP did not directly observe the flare itself, this event represents a rare opportunity to study the evolution of emission near a flare without the risk of instrumental scattered light contaminating the observations. We analyze this evolution and implement a simple model to explore the possibility that resonant excitation (RE, also known as resonant scattering) plays an important role in driving coronal extreme-ultraviolet (EUV) emission during flaring events. Our modeling shows that for a large flare, RE could increase emission from nearby structures by about 45%, consistent with our findings that the involved structures observed by SWAP increased in brightness by about 60% during the flare. We conclude that RE may play an important role in driving coronal EUV emission under certain circumstances and should be accounted for in models and emission-based analysis tools.https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/adcab5Solar coronaSolar extreme ultraviolet emissionSolar E coronaSolar flares
spellingShingle Daniel B. Seaton
Cooper Downs
Giulio Del Zanna
Matthew J. West
Edward M. B. Thiemann
Amir Caspi
Edward E. DeLuca
Leon Golub
James Paul Mason
Ritesh Patel
Katharine K. Reeves
Yeimy J. Rivera
Sabrina L. Savage
Evidence of Extreme-ultraviolet Resonant Excitation in the Middle Corona during a Solar Flare
The Astrophysical Journal
Solar corona
Solar extreme ultraviolet emission
Solar E corona
Solar flares
title Evidence of Extreme-ultraviolet Resonant Excitation in the Middle Corona during a Solar Flare
title_full Evidence of Extreme-ultraviolet Resonant Excitation in the Middle Corona during a Solar Flare
title_fullStr Evidence of Extreme-ultraviolet Resonant Excitation in the Middle Corona during a Solar Flare
title_full_unstemmed Evidence of Extreme-ultraviolet Resonant Excitation in the Middle Corona during a Solar Flare
title_short Evidence of Extreme-ultraviolet Resonant Excitation in the Middle Corona during a Solar Flare
title_sort evidence of extreme ultraviolet resonant excitation in the middle corona during a solar flare
topic Solar corona
Solar extreme ultraviolet emission
Solar E corona
Solar flares
url https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/adcab5
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