The Fe-Line Feature in the X-Ray Spectrum of Solar Flares: First Results from the SOXS Mission |
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| Authors: | Rajmal Jain Anil K Pradhan Vishal Joshi K J Shah Jayshree J Trivedi S L Kayasth Vishal M Shah M R Deshpande |
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| Institution: | (1) Department of Space (Govt. of India), Physical Research Laboratory, Navrangpura, Ahmedabad, 380 009, India;(2) Department of Astronomy, The Ohio State University, U.S.A. |
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| Abstract: | We present the first results from the low-energy detector payload of the solar X-ray spectrometer (SOXS) mission, which was
launched onboard the GSAT-2 Indian spacecraft on May 08, 2003 by the GSLV-D2 rocket to study solar flares. The SOXS low-energy
detector (SLD) payload was designed, developed, and fabricated by the Physical Research Laboratory (PRL) in collaboration
with the Space Application Centre (SAC), Ahmedabad and the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) Satellite Centre (ISAC),
Bangalore. The SLD payload employs state-of-the-art, solid-state detectors, viz., Si PIN and Cadmium-Zinc-Telluride (CZT) devices that operate at near room temperature (−20 °C). The energy ranges of the Si PIN and CZT detectors are 4 – 25 and 4 – 56 keV, respectively. The Si PIN provides sub-keV
energy resolution, while the CZT provides ~1.7 keV energy resolution throughout the energy range. The high sensitivity and
sub-keV energy resolution of the Si PIN detector allows measuring the intensity, peak energy, and the equivalent width of
the Fe-line complex at approximately 6.7 keV, as a function of time in all ten M-class flares studied in this investigation.
The peak energy (E
p) of the Fe-line feature varies between 6.4 and 6.7 keV with increase in temperature from 9 to 58 MK. We found that the equivalent
width (w) of the Fe-line feature increases exponentially with temperature up to 30 MK and then increases very slowly up to 40 MK.
It remains between 3.5 and 4 keV in the temperature range of 30 – 45 MK. We compare our measurements of w with calculations made earlier by various investigators and propose that these measurements may improve theoretical models.
We interpret the variation of both E
p and w with temperature as being to the changes in the ionization and recombination conditions in the plasma during the flare, and
as a consequence, the contribution from different ionic emission lines also varies. |
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