Energetics of small electron acceleration episodes in the solar corona from radio noise storm observations

Abstract

Observations of radio noise storms can act as sensitive probes of nonthermal electrons produced in small acceleration events in the solar corona. We use data from noise storm episodes observed jointly by the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT) and the Nancay Radioheliograph (NRH) to study characteristics of the nonthermal electrons involved in the emission. We find that the electrons carry $10^{21}$ to $10^{24}$ erg/s, and that the energy contained in the electrons producing a representative noise storm burst ranges from $10^{20}$ to $10^{23}$ ergs. These results are a direct probe of the energetics involved in ubiquitous, small-scale electron acceleration episodes in the corona, and could be relevant to a nanoflare-like scenario for coronal heating.

arXiv commentAccepted in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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• A Statistical Study of Low-frequency Solar Radio Type-III Bursts
• On the faintest solar coronal hard X-rays observed with FOXSI
• Multifrequency microwave imaging of weak transients from the quiet solar corona
• Study on the Temporal Evolution of the Radial Differential Rotation of Solar Corona Using Radio Emissions
• Radio, X-ray and extreme-ultraviolet observations of weak energy releases in the `quiet' Sun