Strong Double Layers, Existence Criteria, and Annihilation: An Application to Solar Flares

Abstract

AbstractWe present some conditions for the stability of a strong double layer in a warm, current-carrying plasma, which can be extended into the relativistic regime. We apply a model for plasma heating by the electron beam emitted from the double layer and show that this leads to a finite life time of the double layer. We also show that the radio emission accompanying this process can well describe the observed phenomena in Type I radio bursts using a direct emission mechanism, not involving Langmuir waves.Subject headings: plasmas — Sun: flares — Sun: radio radiation