Long-period energy releases during a C2.8 flare

¹ Key Laboratory of Dark Matter and Space Astronomy, Purple Mountain Observatory, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210023, PR China
² State Key Laboratory of Space Weather, Chinese Academy of Sciences Beijing 100190, PR China
³ , Xinjiang Astronomical Observatory, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Urumqi 830011, PR China

Received: 6 May 2024
Accepted: 24 July 2024

Abstract

Context. The study of quasi-periodic pulsations (QPPs) is a key diagnostic of intermittent or periodic energy releases during solar flares.

Aims. We investigated the intermittent energy-releasing processes by analyzing the long-period pulsations during a C2.8 flare on 2023 June 3.

Methods. The solar flare was simultaneously observed by the solar X-ray detector on board the Macau Science Satellite-1B, the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite, the Chinese Hα Solar Explorer, the Expanded Owens Valley Solar Array, the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly, and the Extreme Ultraviolet Variability Experiment for the Solar Dynamics Observatory.

Results. The C2.8 flare shows three successive and repetitive pulsations in soft X-ray (SXR) and high-temperature extreme ultraviolet (EUV) emissions, which may imply three episodes of energy releases during the solar flare. The QPP period is estimated to be as long as ∼7.5 minutes. EUV imaging observations suggest that these three pulsations come from the same flare area dominated by the hot loop system. Conversely, the flare radiation in wavelengths of radio/microwave, low-temperature EUV, ultraviolet (UV), and Hα only reveals the first pulsation, which may be associated with nonthermal electrons accelerated by magnetic reconnection. The other two pulsations in wavelengths of SXR and high-temperature EUV might be caused by the loop-loop interaction.

Conclusions. Our observations indicate that the three episodes of energy releases during the C2.8 flare are triggered by different mechanisms, namely the accelerated electron via magnetic reconnection, and the loop-loop interaction in a complicated magnetic configuration.