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Solar Flare Elemental �Abundance Deviations�Obtained by the MinXSS-1 CubeSat Mission

Crisel Suarez, Christopher S. Moore, MinXSS Team

Solar Physics High Energy Research (SPHERE) workshop July 11 to 15 2022.

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MinXSS + DAXSS Tutorial

MinXSS and DAXSS Data Products, Data Access in python and IDL
DAXSS Data Analysis and Spectral Fitting with Python (PySPEX)
MinXSS/DAXSS Data Analysis and Spectral Fitting with IDL

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July 13 @ 13:30 MDT/ 21:30 CEST

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Overview

Flares
Motivation
Studies of Abundances in Solar Flares
Abundances derived from MinXSS Cubesat-1
Conclusion

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Motivation

How is the material transported during a solar flare?

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Solar Flares

Powerful events in the solar system.

Temperatures > 20 MK.

Magnetic energy > thermal, radiative and kinetic energy

Accelerates particles on timescales of minutes via magnetic reconnection.

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Motivation

How is the material transported during a solar flare?

What are the physical mechanisms that make flares reach temperatures of 20 MK ?

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Motivation

How is the material transported during a solar flare?

What are the physical mechanisms that make flares reach temperatures of 20 MK ?

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Look at the elemental abundance variations in solar flares using SXR spectra

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Models X-Ray Spectra

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- Bound–Bound Emission -

- Free–Bound Emission -

(Ions)

- Free–Free Emission -

Thermal Bremsstrahlung

- Free–Free Emission -

Non-Thermal Bremsstrahlung

(Accelerated Electrons)

Mg

|

Si

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Ar

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Fe

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Ca

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With xrays we can also study their spectra and currently we have data of HRX with rhessi and UV with EVE governed by different radiative emission types. But we are still missing a big gap in the SXR to bridge both HXR data and EVE. And minxss is an instruments that can help us bridge this UV to Xray gap, additionally with MINXSS we can look at different spectra line of Fe Ca Ar Si Mg, S

we have rherssi spectra data which mostly looks at the HXR and EVE that looks at UV but there is a gap in SXR so in order to bridge we need a soft-xray instrument and the data and one of the instruments that has xray spectra is minxss that can complement rhessi data around ~7/8 eV and we can look at the spectra lines of different elements including Fe Ca Ar Si Mg, S

t4 = TEXT(1.25, y_pos_max, 'Mg|', /DATA, FONT_SIZE=16, FONT_STYLE='Bold', COLOR ='Black')

t5 = TEXT(1.7, y_pos_max, 'Si|', /DATA, FONT_SIZE=16, FONT_STYLE='Bold', COLOR ='Black')

t6 = TEXT(2.95, y_pos_max, 'Ar|', /DATA, FONT_SIZE=16, FONT_STYLE='Bold', COLOR ='Black')

t7 = TEXT(3.7, y_pos_max, 'Ca|', /DATA, FONT_SIZE=16, FONT_STYLE='Bold', COLOR ='Black')

t7 = TEXT(6.4, y_pos_max, 'Fe|', /DATA, FONT_SIZE=16, FONT_STYLE='Bold', COLOR ='Black')

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Solar EUV and X-ray Instruments

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Mason et al. 2019

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SAX and XSM

Messenger Solar Assembly for X-rays (SAX)- Dennis et al. 2015

Soft X-Ray Spectra Analysis

Estimate elemental abundance enhancement

Six-years: 2007 to 2013
526 flares
Spectra Coverage: ~ 1.5 - 8.5keV

Chandrayaan-1 X-ray Solar Monitor (XSM)-Narendranath et al. 2014

Soft X-Ray Spectra Analysis

Estimate elemental abundance enhancement

Nine-months: 2008 to 2009
~23 flares
Spectra Coverage~ 1.8 – 8keV

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MinXSS- enhance previous solar flare elemental abundance studies broader spectra coverage (0.8 – 12 keV)

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SAX and XSM- Results

Messenger Solar Assembly for X-rays (SAX)

Chandrayaan-1 X-ray Solar Monitor (XSM)

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Fe > Ca > Si > S
Fe ~3x photospheric abundance (3.09)

Self-consistent with other studies
Fe (1.66) and Si (1.64) photospheric

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MinXSS CubeSats

Miniature X-Ray Solar Spectrometer

Dimensions ~ 34 x 10 x 10 cm (13.4 x 4 x 4”) ‘cube’
Mass ~ 3.5 kg

Mission Length: 05/16/2016 – 05/06/2017

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Pivotal Professionals

P.I.: Tom Woods

Chris Moore

Amir Capsi

Phil Chamberlin

Rich Kohnert

James Mason

Scott Palo

Crisel Suarez

Bennet Schwab

Anant Kumar

Moore et al. 2018

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MinXSS CubeSats

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X-ray Spectrometer (X123)

Amptek X123 Silicon Drift Diode (SDD)

0.8 – 12 keV bandpass

0.03 keV bins -> 0.15 keV FWHM resolution

Δt = 10 seconds cadence

X-Ray Photometer (XP)
Sun Positioning System

Moore et al. 2018

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Parametric Spectra Fits

OSPEX software using Chianti atomic database
Spectral fitting governed by thermal bremsstrahlung
Emission measure, temperature and elemental abundances as a sequence of the flare duration
Analysis of ~20 flares with flare peak coverage

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Model Name	2-Temperature
All Free	Elements Mg, Si, Ar, S, Ca, and Fe vary independently

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July 23, 2016- M5.0 Flare

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July 23, 2016- M5.0 Flare

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July 23, 2016- M5.0 Flare

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Results

~ 20 flares analyzed

C1.0 – M7.7

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C1.0

M1.0

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Results

~ 20 flares analyzed

C1.0 – M7.7

Average Peak EM

10⁴⁷ – 10⁴⁹ cm^-3

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Results

~ 20 flares analyzed

C1.0 – M7.7

Average Peak EM

10⁴⁷ – 10⁴⁹ cm^-3

Average Peak Temp

4-18 MK

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Results

~ 20 flares analyzed

C1.0 – M7.7

Average Peak EM

10⁴⁷ – 10⁴⁹ cm^-3

Average Peak Temp

4-18 MK

Abundances lower than coronal value

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Conclusion

At the peak of the flare low FIP elements were depleted to chromospheric values -> the lower atmospheric plasma fills the coronal loops due to chromospheric evaporation.

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Conclusion

At the peak of the flare low FIP elements were depleted to chromospheric values -> the lower atmospheric plasma fills the coronal loops due to chromospheric evaporation.

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Conclusion

At the peak of the flare low FIP elements were depleted to chromospheric values -> the lower atmospheric plasma fills the coronal loops due to chromospheric evaporation.

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Summary

~ 20 flares analyzed: C1.0 – M7.7

Emission measure, temperature and Mg, Si, Ar, S, Ca, and Fe vary as a sequence of the flare duration

Average Peak EM: 10⁴⁷ – 10⁴⁹ cm^-3

Average Peak Temp: 4-18 MK

Elemental abundances lower than coronal value

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Future work

Analyze the rate at which element varies

Differential Emission Measure analysis to obtain more complete temperature coverage

include other observations - SDO/AIA, Hinode/XRT

Future flare analysis with DAXSS

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MinXSS + DAXSS Tutorial

MinXSS and DAXSS Data Products, Data Access in python and IDL
DAXSS Data Analysis and Spectral Fitting with Python (PySPEX)
MinXSS/DAXSS Data Analysis and Spectral Fitting with IDL

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July 13 @ 13:30 MDT/ 21:30 CEST

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Acknowledgments

Chris Moore, MinXSS Team
SPHERE Team and Organizers
NASA Heliosphysics Supporting Research Grant, ( NASA-HSR 16611153)
Vanderbilt Bridge Program PhD Fellowship.
MinXSS-1 CubeSat mission is supported by NASA Grant NNX14AN84G.

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