The faintest solar coronal hard X-rays observed with FOXSI

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作者
Buitrago-Casas, Juan Camilo [1 ,2 ]
Glesener, Lindsay [3 ]
Christe, Steven [4 ]
Krucker, Säm [1 ,5 ]
Vievering, Juliana [3 ,6 ]
Athiray, P.S. [3 ,7 ]
Musset, Sophie [3 ,8 ]
Davis, Lance [3 ]
Courtade, Sasha [1 ]
Dalton, Gregory [1 ]
Turin, Paul [9 ]
Turin, Zoe [10 ]
Ramsey, Brian [7 ]
Bongiorno, Stephen [7 ]
Ryan, Daniel [4 ,5 ]
Takahashi, Tadayuki [11 ,12 ]
Furukawa, Kento [12 ]
Watanabe, Shin [11 ,13 ]
Narukage, Noriyuki [14 ]
Ishikawa, Shin-Nosuke [15 ]
Mitsuishi, Ikuyuki [16 ]
Hagino, Kouichi [17 ]
Shourt, Van [1 ]
Duncan, Jessie [3 ]
Zhang, Yixian [3 ]
Bale, Stuart D. [1 ,2 ]
机构
[1] Space Sciences Laboratory, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley,CA, United States
[2] Physics Department, University of California, Berkeley,CA, United States
[3] University of Minnesota, Physics and Astronomy, Minneapolis,MN, United States
[4] Nasa Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt,MD, United States
[5] University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland, Windisch, Switzerland
[6] Johns Hopkins University, Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel,MD, United States
[7] Nasa Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville,AL, United States
[8] Esa, European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC), Noordwijk, Netherlands
[9] Heliospace Corporation, Berkeley,CA, United States
[10] University of Colorado, Boulder,CO, United States
[11] Kavli Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe (WPI), The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
[12] Department of Physics, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
[13] Institute of Space and Astronautical Science, Kanagawa, Japan
[14] National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, Tokyo, Japan
[15] Rikkyo University, Graduate School of Artificial Intelligence and Science, Tokyo, Japan
[16] Nagoya University, Graduate School of Science, Aichi, Japan
[17] Tokyo University of Science, Shinjuku City, Tokyo, Japan
来源
Astronomy and Astrophysics | 2022年 / 665卷
关键词
Context. Solar nanoflares are small impulsive events releasing magnetic energy in the corona. If nanoflares follow the same physics as their larger counterparts; they should emit hard X-rays (HXRs) but with a rather faint intensity. A copious and continuous presence of nanoflares would result in a sustained HXR emission. These nanoflares could deliver enormous amounts of energy into the solar corona; possibly accounting for its high temperatures. To date; there has not been any direct observation of such persistent HXRs from the quiescent Sun. However; the quiet-Sun HXR emission was constrained in 2010 using almost 12 days of quiescent solar off-pointing observations by the Reuven Ramaty High Energy Solar Spectroscopic Imager (RHESSI). These observations set 2 upper limits at 3.4-102 photons s1 cm2 keV1 and 9.5-104 photons s1 cm2 keV1 for the 3-6 keV and 6-12 keV energy ranges; respectively. Aims. Observing faint HXR emission is challenging because it demands high sensitivity and dynamic range instruments. The Focusing Optics X-ray Solar Imager (FOXSI) sounding rocket experiment excels in these two attributes when compared with RHESSI. FOXSI completed its second and third successful flights (FOXSI-2 and -3) on December 11; 2014; and September 7; 2018; respectively. This paper aims to constrain the quiet-Sun emission in the 5-10 keV energy range using FOXSI-2 and -3 observations. Methods. To fully characterize the sensitivity of FOXSI; we assessed ghost ray backgrounds generated by sources outside of the field of view via a ray-tracing algorithm. We used a Bayesian approach to provide upper thresholds of quiet-Sun HXR emission and probability distributions for the expected flux when a quiet-Sun HXR source is assumed to exist. Results. We found a FOXSI-2 upper limit of 4.5-102 photons s1 cm2 keV1 with a 2 confidence level in the 510 keV energy range. This limit is the first-ever quiet-Sun upper threshold in HXR reported using 1 min observations during a period of high solar activity. RHESSI was unable to measure the quiet-Sun emission during active times due to its limited dynamic range. During the FOXSI-3 flight; the Sun exhibited a fairly quiet configuration; displaying only one aged nonflaring active region. Using the entire 6.5 min of FOXSI-3 data; we report a 2 upper limit of 104 photons s1 cm2 keV1 for the 5-10 keV energy range. Conclusions. The FOXSI-3 upper limits on quiet-Sun emission are similar to that previously reported; but FOXSI-3 achieved these results with only 5 min of observations or about 1/2600 less time than RHESSI. A possible future spacecraft using hard X-ray focusing optics like those in the FOXSI concept would allow enough observation time to constrain the current HXR quiet-Sun limits further; or perhaps even make direct detections. This is the first report of quiet-Sun HXR limits from FOXSI and the first science paper using FOXSI-3 observations. © 2022 Published by EDP Sciences;
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