Statistical relationship between the succeeding solar flares detected by the RHESSI satellite

Abstract

The Reuven Ramaty High Energy Solar Spectroscopic Imager (RHESSI) has observed more than 80,000 solar energetic events since its launch on February $12^{\mathrm{th}}$, 2002. Using this large sample of observed flares, we studied the spatio-temporal relationship between succeeding flares. Our results show that the statistical relationship between the temporal and spatial differences of succeeding flares can be described as a power law of the form $R(t)\sim t^p$ with $p=0.327\pm 0.007$. We discuss the possible interpretations of this result as a characteristic function of a supposed underlying physics. Different scenarios are considered to explain this relation, including the case where the connectivity between succeeding events is realised through a shock wave in the post Sedov-Taylor phase or where the spatial and temporal relationship between flares is supposed to be provided by an expanding flare area in the sub-diffusive regime. Furthermore, we cannot exclude the possibility that the physical process behind the statistical relationship is the reordering of the magnetic field by the flare or it is due to some unknown processes.

10 pages, 10 figures

References in corpus (9)

• RHESSI Microflare Statistics II. X-ray Imaging, Spectroscopy & Energy Distributions
• Helioseismic analysis of the solar flare-induced sunquake of 2005 January 15
• RHESSI and TRACE observations of multiple flare activity in AR 10656 and associated filament eruption
• Multiwavelength Observations of an Eruptive Flare: Evidence for Blast Waves and Break-out
• The relationship between hard X-ray pulse timings and the locations of footpoint sources during solar flares
• Principal Components and Independent Component Analysis of Solar and Space Data
• The Spatio-Temporal Evolution of Solar Flares Observed with AIA/SDO: Fractal Diffusion, Sub-Diffusion, or Logistic Growth ?
• Monte-Carlo Simulation of Solar Active-Region Energy
• Statistical Models for Solar Flare Interval Distribution in Individual Active Regions

Cited by in corpus (4)

• Statistical study of spatio-temporal distribution of precursor solar flares associated with major flares
• Flaring together: A preferred angular separation between sympathetic flares on the Sun
• Dynamic Precursors of Flares in Active Region NOAA 10486
• A New Approach to Solar Flare Prediction