Issue |
A&A
Volume 529, May 2011
|
|
---|---|---|
Article Number | A103 | |
Number of page(s) | 14 | |
Section | The Sun | |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/201016329 | |
Published online | 12 April 2011 |
The bound-bound and free-free radiative losses for the nonthermal distributions in solar and stellar coronae⋆
1
Department of Astronomy, Physics of the Earth and MeteorologyFaculty of Mathematics, Physics and Informatics, Comenius University, Mlynská Dolina F2, 842 48 Bratislava, Slovak Republic
e-mail: dudik@fmph.uniba.sk
2
Astronomical Institute of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Fričova 298, 251 65 Ondřejov, Czech Republic
Received: 15 December 2010
Accepted: 22 February 2011
Context. The radiative-loss function is an important ingredient in the physics of the solar corona, transition region, and flares.
Aims. We investigate the radiative losses due to the bound-bound transitions and bremsstrahlung for nonthermal κ- and n-distributions.
Methods. The bound-bound radiative losses are computed by integrating synthetic spectra. An analytical expression is derived for nonthermal bremsstrahlung. The bremsstrahlung is computed numerically using accurate values of the free-free Gaunt factor.
Results. We find that the changes in radiative-loss functions due to nonthermal distributions are several times greater than the errors due to the missing contribution of the free-bound continuum or errors in atomic data. For κ-distributions, the radiative-loss functions are in general weaker than for Maxwellian distribution, with a few exceptions caused by the behavior of Fe. The peaks of the radiative-loss functions are in general flatter. The situation is opposite for n-distributions, for which the radiative-loss functions have higher and narrower peaks. Local minima and maxima of the radiative-loss functions may also be shifted. The contribution from bremsstrahlung only changes by a few percent except in the extreme nonthermal case of κ = 2. Stability analysis reveals that the X-ray loops are stable against the radiatively-driven thermal instability.
Key words: atomic processes / radiation mechanisms: non-thermal / Sun: corona / Sun: X-rays, gamma rays / instabilities
The calculated radiative losses for nonthermal distributions are available as two electronic tables at the CDS via anonymous ftp to cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (130.79.128.5) or via http://cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr/viz-bin/qcat?J/A+A/529/A103
© ESO, 2011
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