Recent data on zebra patterns

¹ National Astronomical Observatory, Chinese Academy of Science, 20A, Datun Road, Beijing, 100012, PR China e-mail: yyh@bao.ac.cn
² Izmiran, Troitsk, Moscow region, 142190, Russia e-mail: gchernov@izmiran.rssi.ru

Received: 20 December 2004
Accepted: 13 February 2005

Abstract

A comparative analysis of two recent solar radio outbursts around 3 GHz with zebra structures and fiber bursts in their dynamical radio spectra is carried out using all available ground-based and satellite data (SOHO, TRACE, RHESSI). The latest theoretical models of the zebra pattern are critically discussed. New data on microwave zebra structures and fiber bursts suggests that they are analogous to similar structures observed at meter wavelengths. It was discovered that in the 2,6–3,8 GHz frequency band more than 34 zebra stripes can appear simultaneously, and some isolated fiber bursts can continuously be transformed into zebra stripes. This fact indicates a single origin for both structures. The zebra pattern was observed when the signs of magnetic reconnections were revealed in images of 195 Å UV lines, and radio sources coincided with positions of some new sources in hard X-rays. All the main properties of the stripes in emission and absorption can be explained if they are associated with interactions between electrostatic plasma waves and whistlers, taking into account the quasi-linear diffusion of fast particles with the loss-cone distribution on whistlers. In this model it is possible to obtain realistic values for the magnetic field strength of at the plasma level of about 3 GHz. The double plasma resonance model for the zebra pattern based on the known realistic dependences of electron density and magnetic field yields a frequency dependence for the frequency separation between stripes that does not agree with the observations.