High Energy Phenomena in the Sun

Abstract

High energy phenomena in the solar physics context, simply means solar flares. To be sure, the energies attained during flares are certainly not very impressive on a cosmic-ray scale. The most energetic particles belong the GeV range, the highest temperatures are of the order of 107 K, γ-ray emission is occasional and the total energy emitted remains below 1033 ergs for all the flares so far observed. Apart from an absolute energy scale, flares are also energetically irrelevant on a solar scale. In fact in a large flare a few units in 1032 ergs are emitted, with a total duration of about one hour and a total surface area involved of a few units in 10−4 of the solar surface. Recalling the values of the luminosity, L⊙ ≃ 4 × 1033 erg s−1 and the solar flux F⊙6.3 × 1010 erg cm−2s−1, we see that