RHESSI Observations of the Neupert Effect in Three Solar Flares

Abstract

Previous observations show that in many solar flares there is a causal correlation between the hard X-ray flux and the derivative of the soft X-ray flux. This so-called Neupert effect is indicative of a strong link between the primary energy release to accelerate particles and plasma heating. It suggests a flare model in which the hard X-rays are electron – ion bremsstrahlung produced by energetic electrons as they lose their energy in the lower corona and chromosphere and the soft X-rays are thermal bremsstrahlung from the “chromospheric evaporation” plasma heated by those same electrons. Reuven Ramaty High Energy Solar Spectroscopic Imager (RHESSI) observes in a broad energy band and its high spectral resolution and coverage of the low-energy range allow us to separate the thermal continuum from the nonthermal component, which gives us an opportunity to investigate the Neupert effect. In this paper, we use the parameters derived from RHESSI observations to trace the primary energy release and the plasma response: The hard X-ray flux or spectral hardness is compared with the derivative of plasma thermal energy in three impulsive flares on 10 November 2002 and on 3 and 25 August 2005. High correlations show that the Neupert effect does hold for the two hard X-ray peaks of the 10 November 2002 flare, for the first peaks of the 3 August 2005 flare, and for the beginning period of the 25 August 2005 flare.