The Fermi-Large Area Telescope detection of the X8.2 GOES class solar flare of 2017 September 10 provides for the first time observations of a long-duration high-energy gamma-ray flare associated ...with a ground-level enhancement (GLE). The >100 MeV emission from this flare lasted for more than 12 hr covering both the impulsive and extended phases. We present the localization of the gamma-ray emission and find that it is consistent with the active region from which the flare occurred over a period lasting more than 6 hr. The temporal variation of the gamma-ray flux and of the proton index inferred from the gamma-ray data seems to suggest three phases in acceleration of the proton population. Based on timing arguments we interpret the last phase to be tied to the acceleration mechanism powering the powering the production of the GLE particles.
ixpeobssim is a simulation and analysis framework specifically developed for the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE). Given a source model and the response functions of the telescopes, it is ...designed to produce realistic simulated observations, in the form of event lists in FITS format, containing a strict superset of the information included in the publicly released IXPE data products. The core simulation capabilities are complemented by a full suite of post-processing applications which support the spatial, spectral, and temporal models needed for analysis of typical polarized X-ray sources, allowing for the implementation of complex, polarization-aware analysis pipelines, and facilitating the interoperation with the standard visualization and analysis tools traditionally in use by the X-ray community. Although much of the framework is specific to IXPE, the modular nature of the underlying implementation makes it potentially straightforward to adapt it to different missions with polarization capabilities.
We present a new simulation framework, based on the Python programming language and specifically developed for the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) mission. Starting from an arbitrary source ...model (including morphological, temporal, spectral and polarimetric information), this framework uses the instrument response functions to produce fast and realistic observation-simulations. The generated event lists can be directly fed into the standard X-ray visualization and analysis tools, including XSPEC—which make this framework a useful tool not only for simulating observations of astronomical sources, but also to develop and test end-to-end analysis chains. We will give an overview of the basic architecture of the software and we will present a few physically interesting case studies in the context of the IXPE mission.
Abstract
Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) is a Small Explorer mission that was launched at the end of 2021 to measure the polarization of X-ray emission from tens of astronomical sources. ...Its focal-plane detectors are based on the Gas Pixel Detector, which measures the polarization by imaging photoelectron tracks in a gas mixture and reconstructing their initial directions. The quality of the single track, and then the capability of correctly determining the original direction of the photoelectron, depends on many factors, e.g., whether the photoelectron is emitted at low or high inclination with respect to the collection plane or the occurrence of a large Coulomb scattering close to the generation point. The reconstruction algorithm used by IXPE to obtain the photoelectron emission direction also calculates several properties of the shape of the tracks that characterize the process. In this paper we compare several such properties and identify the best one to weight each track on the basis of the reconstruction accuracy. We demonstrate that significant improvement in sensitivity can be achieved with this approach and for this reason it will be the baseline for IXPE data analysis.
Multiple Sources of Solar High-energy Protons Kocharov, Leon; Omodei, Nicola; Mishev, Alexander ...
Astrophysical journal/The Astrophysical journal,
07/2021, Volume:
915, Issue:
1
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
Abstract
During the 24th solar cycle, the Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT) has observed a total of 27 solar flares possessing delayed
γ
-ray emission, including the exceptionally well-observed flare ...and coronal mass ejection (CME) on 2017 September 10. Based on the Fermi/LAT data, we plot, for the first time, maps of possible sources of the delayed >100 MeV
γ
-ray emission of the 2017 September 10 event. The long-lasting
γ
-ray emission is localized under the CME core. The
γ
-ray spectrum exhibits intermittent changes in time, implying that more than one source of high-energy protons was formed during the flare–CME eruption. We find a good statistical correlation between the
γ
-ray fluences of the Fermi/LAT-observed delayed events and the products of corresponding CME speed and the square root of the soft X-ray flare magnitude. Data support the idea that both flares and CMEs jointly contribute to the production of subrelativistic and relativistic protons near the Sun.
We analyze the relativistic proton emission from the Sun during the eruptive event on 2017 September 10, which caused a ground-level enhancement (GLE 72) registered by the worldwide network of ...neutron monitors. Using the neutron monitor data and interplanetary transport modeling both along and across interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) lines, we deduce parameters of the proton injection into the interplanetary medium. The inferred injection profile of the interplanetary protons is compared with the profile of the >100 MeV γ-ray emission observed by the Fermi Large Area Telescope, attributed to pion production from the interaction of >300 MeV protons at the Sun. GLE 72 started with a prompt component that arrived along the IMF lines. This was followed by a more prolonged enhancement caused by protons arriving at the Earth across the IMF lines from the southwest. The interplanetary proton event is modeled using two sources-one source at the root of the Earth-connected IMF line and another source situated near the solar western limb. The maximum phase of the second injection of interplanetary protons coincides with the maximum phase of the prolonged >100 MeV γ-ray emission that originated from a small area at the solar western limb, below the current sheet trailing the associated coronal mass ejection (CME). A possible common source of interacting protons and interplanetary protons is discussed in terms of proton acceleration at the CME bow shock versus coronal (re-)acceleration in the wake of the CME.
Two scenarios have been proposed to account for sustained ≥30 MeV gamma-ray emission in solar flares: (1) prolonged particle acceleration/trapping involving large-scale magnetic loops at the flare ...site, and (2) precipitation of high-energy (>300 MeV) protons accelerated at coronal/interplanetary shock waves. To determine which of these scenarios is more likely, we examine the associated soft X-ray flares, coronal mass ejections (CMEs), and solar energetic proton events for (a) the long-duration gamma-ray flares (LDGRFs) observed by the Large Area Telescope on Fermi, and (b) delayed and/or spatially extended high-energy gamma-ray flares observed by the Gamma-ray Spectrometer on the Solar Maximum Mission, the Gamma-1 telescope on the Gamma satellite, and the Energetic Gamma-Ray Experiment Telescope on the Compton Gamma-Ray Observatory. For the Fermi data set of 11 LDGRFs with >100 MeV emission lasting for ≥∼2 hr, we search for associations and reverse associations between LDGRFs, X-ray flares, CMEs, and SEPs, i.e., beginning with the gamma-ray flares and also, in turn, with X-class soft X-ray flares, fast (≥1500 km s−1) and wide CMEs, and intense (peak flux ≥2.67 × 10−3 protons cm−2 s−1 sr−1, with peak to background ratio >1.38) >300 MeV SEPs at 1 au. While LDGRFs tend to be associated with bright X-class flares, we find that only one-third of the X-class flares during the time of Fermi monitoring coincide with an LDGRF. However, nearly all fast, wide CMEs are associated with an LDGRF. These preliminary association analyses favor the proton precipitation scenario, although there is a prominent counter-example of a potentially magnetically well-connected solar eruption with >100 MeV emission for ∼10 hr for which the near-Earth >300 MeV proton intensity did not rise above background.
We present the Large Imaging Spectrometer for Solar Accelerated Nuclei (LISSAN), a new solar dedicated satellite instrument concept. LISSAN relies on an indirect Fourier imaging technique valid over ...an energy range from 40 keV up to 100 MeV. Spatial information is encoded into 15 moiré patterns by 15 pairs of slightly offset grids (bigrids) separated by a fixed distance enabling a predicted spatial resolution of 10”. The time, location, and energy of each incoming photon is recorded via a pixelated gadolinium aluminium gallium garnet (GAGG) crystal scintillator detector placed in alignment with each bigrid, therefore providing simultaneous imaging and spectroscopy from the same imaging system. X-ray and gamma-ray emission are key diagnostics of electron and ion acceleration, respectively. However, despite being a fundamental process that occurs throughout the Universe, particularly in the solar atmosphere, only one resolved gamma-ray image of ion acceleration in a solar flare has ever been achieved. LISSAN will shed new light on this process by providing spectral resolution better than 1.5% FWHM at 6.1 MeV, an imaging effective area at 2.2 MeV of 100 cm2 (more than 25 times greater than past missions such as RHESSI) and a 10 s cadence. Thanks to these significant advances over the previous satellite-based solar detectors, LISSAN will provide reliable imaging and the spectral characterization of both electron and ion acceleration in solar eruptive events simultaneously for the first time, enabling to it to answer several important open questions regarding solar particle acceleration and the initiation of space weather events.
ABSTRACT We report the first detection of >100 MeV gamma-rays associated with a behind-the-limb solar flare, which presents a unique opportunity to probe the underlying physics of high-energy flare ...emission and particle acceleration. On 2013 October 11 a GOES M1.5 class solar flare occurred ∼9 9 behind the solar limb as observed by STEREO-B. RHESSI observed hard X-ray (HXR) emission above the limb, most likely from the flare loop-top, as the footpoints were occulted. Surprisingly, the Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT) detected >100 MeV gamma-rays for ∼30 minutes with energies up to 3 GeV. The LAT emission centroid is consistent with the RHESSI HXR source, but its uncertainty does not constrain the source to be located there. The gamma-ray spectra can be adequately described by bremsstrahlung radiation from relativistic electrons having a relatively hard power-law (PL) spectrum with a high-energy exponential cutoff, or by the decay of pions produced by accelerated protons and ions with an isotropic pitch-angle distribution and a PL spectrum with a number index of ∼3.8. We show that high optical depths rule out the gamma-rays originating from the flare site and a high-corona trap model requires very unusual conditions, so a scenario in which some of the particles accelerated by the CME shock travel to the visible side of the Sun to produce the observed gamma-rays may be at work.
We report on the detection of the gamma-ray emission above 100 MeV from the solar flare of September 29, 2022, by Fermi LAT with simultaneous coverage in HXR by Solar Orbiter STIX. The Solar ...Orbiter-Earth separation was 178° at the time of the flare as seen from Earth, with Solar Orbiter observing the east limb. Based on STIX imaging, the flare was located 16° behind the eastern limb as seen from Earth. The STIX and GBM non-thermal emission and the LAT emission above 100 MeV all show similarly shaped time profiles, and the Fermi profiles peaked only 20 s after the STIX signal from the main flare site, setting this flare apart from all the other occulted flares observed by Fermi LAT. The radio spectral imaging based on the Nançay Radioheliograph and ORFEES spectrograph reveal geometries consistent with a magnetic structure that connects the parent active region behind the limb to the visible disk. We studied the basic characteristics of the gamma-ray time profile, in particular, the rise and decay times and the time delay between the gamma-ray and HXR peak fluxes. We compared the characteristics of this event with those of four Fermi LAT behind-the-limb flares and with an on-disk event and found that this event is strikingly similar to the impulsive on-disk flare. Based on multiwavelength observations, we find that the gamma-ray emission above 100 MeV originated from ions accelerated in the parent active region behind the limb and was transported to the visible disk via a large magnetic structure connected to the parent active region behind the limb. Our results strongly suggest that the source of the emission above 100 MeV from the September 29, 2022 flare cannot be the CME-driven shock.
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