Formation of coronal MHD shock waves - II. The pressure pulse mechanism

The ignition of coronal shock waves by flares is investigated. It is assumed that an explosive expansion of the source region caused by impulsive heating generates a fast-mode MHD blast wave which subsequently transforms into a shock wave. The solutions of 1-D MHD equations for the flaring region and for the external region are matched at their boundary. The obtained results show under what conditions flares can ignite shock waves that excite the metric type II bursts. The heat input rate per unit mass has to be sufficiently high and the preflare value of the plasma parameter beta in the flaring region has to be larger than beta (crit)(0). The critical values depend on the flare dimensions and impulsiveness. Larger and more impulsive flares are more effective in generating type II bursts. Shock waves of a higher Mach number require a higher preflare value of beta and a more powerful heating per unit mass. The results demonstrate why only a small fraction of flares is associated with type II bursts and why the association rate increases with the flare importance.