arXiv subjects

C. Guillermo Giménez de Castro

Publications and source records attributed to C. Guillermo Giménez de Castro.

12 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Voltage-to-temperature calibration of the High Altitude THz Solar telescope acquisition system

The THz range has been under-explored for solar astronomy, mainly due to technological limitations. Only recently, a few new telescopes, such as the High Altitude Terahertz Solar (HATS) photometer, have been monitoring the solar activity in this range of the spectrum. This paper presents the experimental characterization and voltage-to-temperature calibration of the HATS acquisition system. HATS uses a Golay cell for capturing the incoming radiation, modulated by a 20 Hz fork chopper. The amplitude of the signal is then obtained at predetermined time intervals by applying a windowing function and an FFT to the signal. To characterize this acquisition system, a blackbody calibrator, with temperatures varying from 100 to 500 C (373.15 K to 648.15 K), was used as a THz source, and two signal recovery methodologies were compared: sinusoidal curve fitting and FFT combined with six windowing functions (rectangular, Hamming, Hann, Barlett, Blackman, and Flat Top). Our quantitative results demonstrate high linearity in the system's response over the input source's temperature range, with the Hamming window achieving the highest precision, yielding a Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) of 15.48 and a calibration temperature-to-voltage factor of 10.32 +- 0.13 mV/K. In contrast, the Bartlett window presented the highest error (RMSE 16.02). The choice of windowing function had only a minor effect on the calibration factors, which ranged from 10.32 to 10.43 mV/K, all within the experimental uncertainties. Beyond solar photometry, the signal modulation and windowing concepts established here are highly applicable to other fields requiring high-sensitivity thermal detection, such as industrial pyrometry for high-temperature manufacturing, environmental monitoring of atmospheric water vapor, and the development of medical imaging systems based on Terahertz radiation for non-invasive tissue analysis.

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arXiv2023

Observando la cromosfera solar en el infrarrojo

The solar chromosphere has historically been studied from spectral lines in the visible and UV, notably Hα, Ca ii, Mg ii and Lyα. Observations at long UV wavelengths (304, 1600 and 1700 Å) from space have been recently added. However, the chromosphere can also be studied in the infrared (IR), both in the continuum as in the lines. Studies in this spectral band, which by definition extends from 1 μm to 1 mm, are scarce and recent, and its advantages having been little explored. In this work we present a review of what has been done and detail how much can be done with ground-based instruments. Argentina has a set of unique telescopes for the observation of the chromosphere, some with more than 20 years of operation and in process of renovation, others recently installed and still some in development. The panorama is very encouraging and allows to anticipate a strong international cooperation with other ground and space facilities.

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arXiv2023

Solar Submillimeter Telescope next generation

The Solar Submillimeter Telescope (SST) is an unique instrument that has been observing the Sun daily since 2001 bringing a wealth of information and raising new questions about the particle acceleration and transport, and emission mechanisms during flares. We are now designing its successor, the SSTng, that will expand the scientific goals of the instrument, including non-solar source observations.

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arXiv2022

A Genetic Algorithm to model Solar Radio Active Regions from 3D Magnetic Field Extrapolations

In recent decades our understanding of solar active regions (ARs) has improved substantially due to observations made with better angular resolution and wider spectral coverage. While prior AR observations have shown that these structures were always brighter than the quiet Sun at centimeter wavelengths, recent observations at millimeter and submillimeter wavelengths have shown ARs with well defined dark umbrae. Given this new information, it is now necessary to update our understanding and models of the solar atmosphere in active regions. In this work, we present a data-constrained model of the AR solar atmosphere, in which we use brightness temperature measurements of NOAA 12470 at three radio frequencies: 17 (NoRH), 100 and 230 GHz (ALMA). Based on our model, which assumes that the radio emission originates from thermal free-free and gyroresonance processes, we calculate radio brightness temperature maps that can be compared with the observations. The magnetic field at distinct atmospheric heights was determined in our modelling process by force-free field extrapolation using photospheric magnetograms taken by HMI/SDO. In order to determine the best plasma temperature and density height profiles necessary to match the observations, the model uses a genetic algorithm that modifies a standard quiet Sun atmospheric model. Our results show that the height of the transition region (TR) of the modelled atmosphere varies with the type of region being modelled: for umbrae the TR is located at 1080 +/- 20 km above the solar surface; for penumbrae, the TR is located at 1800 +/- 50 km; and for bright regions outside sunspots, the TR is located at 2000 +/- 100 km. With these results, we find good agreement with the observed AR brightness temperature maps. Our modelled AR can be used to estimate the emission at frequencies without observational coverage.

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arXiv2022

Estimating the coronal supra-arcade downflows radio emission: from centimetre through submillimetre wavelengths

Supra-arcade downflows (SADs) are infrequent, wiggly opaque structures observed to descend through the solar corona, mostly in EUV and soft X-ray frequencies. From their physical characteristics, SADs have been interpreted as voided (subdense) bubbles and are related to magnetic reconnection processes during long-term erupting flares. In this work we use numerical MHD simulations to compute flux density maps, which are convolved with telescope beams to synthesise images with the aim to assess the expected SADs emission at radio wavelengths and propose observing strategies, including the instruments that can be used. We assume that the emission is thermal bremsstrahlung from a fully ionised plasma without any appreciable gyroresonance contribution since magnetic fields are of the order of ~10 G. We find that SADs emission should be optically thin in the frequency [10-1000] GHz range, and the spatially integrated flux should be larger than 1 Jy. We conclude, therefore, that observing SADs in radio frequencies between [0.5-1000] GHz is feasible with present instrumentation. Moreover, since the emission is for the most part optically thin, the flux density is proportional to temperature, density and line-of-sight depth, and when combined with EUV and soft X-ray images, may allow a better density and temperature determination of SADs.

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arXiv2021

A solar flare driven by thermal conduction observed in mid-infrared

The mid-infrared (mid-IR) range has been mostly unexplored for the investigation of solar flares. It is only recently that new mid-IR flare observations have begun opening a new window into the response and evolution of the solar chromosphere. These new observations have been mostly performed by the AR30T and BR30T telescopes that are operating in Argentina and Brazil, respectively. We present the analysis of SOL2019-05-15T19:24, a GOES class C2.0 solar flare observed at 30~THz (10$\ μ$m) by the ground-based telescope AR30T. Our aim is to characterize the evolution of the flaring atmosphere and the energy transport mechanism in the context of mid-IR emission. We performed a multi-wavelength analysis of the event by complementing the mid-IR data with diverse ground- and space-based data from the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO), the H--$α$ Solar Telescope for Argentina (HASTA), and the Expanded Owens Valley Solar Array (EOVSA). Our study includes the analysis of the magnetic field evolution of the flaring region and of the development of the flare. The mid-IR images from AR30T show two bright and compact flare sources that are spatially associated with the flare kernels observed in ultraviolet (UV) by SDO. We confirm that the temporal association between mid-IR and UV fluxes previously reported for strong flares is also observed for this small flare. The EOVSA microwave data revealed flare spectra consistent with thermal free-free emission, which lead us to dismiss the existence of a significant number of non-thermal electrons. We thus consider thermal conduction as the primary mechanism responsible for energy transport. Our estimates for the thermal conduction energy and total radiated energy fall within the same order of magnitude, reinforcing our conclusions.

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arXiv2021

An MHD Study of Large-Amplitude Oscillations in Solar Filaments

Quiescent filaments are usually affected by internal and/or external perturbations triggering oscillations of different kinds. In particular, external large-scale coronal waves can perturb remote quiescent filaments leading to large-amplitude oscillations. Observational reports have indicated that the activation time of oscillations coincides with the passage of a large-scale coronal wavefront through the filament, although the disturbing wave is not always easily detected. Aiming to contribute to understand how -- and to what extent -- coronal waves are able to excite filament oscillations, here we modelled with 2.5 MHD simulations a filament floating in a gravitationally stratified corona disturbed by a coronal shock wave. This simplified scenario results in a two-coupled oscillation pattern of the filament which is damped in a few cycles, enabling a detailed analysis. A parametric study was accomplished varying parameters of the scenario such as height, size and mass of the filament. An oscillatory analysis reveals a general tendency where periods of oscillations, amplitudes and damping times increase with height, whereas filaments of larger radius exhibit shorter periods and smaller amplitudes. The calculation of forces exerted on the filament shows that the main restoring force is the magnetic tension.

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arXiv2020

The Submillimeter Active Region Excess Brightness Temperature during Solar Cycles 23 and 24

We report the temporal evolution of the excess brightness temperature above solar active regions (ARs) observed with the Solar Submillimeter Telescope (SST) at 212 (λ = 1.4 mm) and 405 GHz (λ = 0.7 mm) during Cycles 23 and 24. Comparison with the sunspot number (SSN) yields a Pearson's correlation coefficient R = 0.88 and 0.74 for 212 and 405 GHz, respectively. Moreover, when only Cycle 24 is taken into account the correlation coefficients go to 0.93 and 0.81 for each frequency. We derive the spectral index α between SST frequencies and found a slight anti-correlation with the SSN (R = -0.25); however, since the amplitude of the variation is lower than the standard deviation we cannot draw a definite conclusion. Indeed, α remains almost constant within the uncertainties with a median value approximate to 0 characteristic of an optically thick thermal source. Since the origin of the AR submillimeter radiation is thermal continuum produced at chromospheric heights, the strong correlation between the excess brightness temperature and the magnetic cycle evolution could be related to the available free magnetic energy to be released in reconnection events.

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arXiv2019

Submillimeter radiation as the thermal component of the Neupert Effect

The Neupert effect is the empirical observation that the time evolution of non-thermal emission (e.g. hard X-rays) is frequently proportional to the time derivative of the thermal emission flux (soft X-rays), or, vice versa, that time integrated non-thermal flux is proportional to thermal flux. We analyzed the GOES M2.2 event SOL2011-02-14T17:25, and found that the 212 GHz emission plays quite well the role of the thermal component of the Neupert effect. We show that the maximum of the hard X-ray flux for energies above 50 keV is coincident in time with the time-derivative of the 212 GHz flux, within the uncertainties. The microwave flux density at 15.4 GHz, produced by optically thin gyrosynchrotron mechanism, and hard-X rays above 25 keV mark the typical impulsive phase, and have similar time evolution. On the other hand, the 12 GHz emission is delayed by about 25 seconds with respect of the microwave and hard X-ray peak. We argue that this delay cannot be explained by magnetic trapping of non-thermal electrons. With all the observational evidence, we suggest that the 212 GHz emission is produced by thermal bremsstrahlung, initially in the chromosphere, and shifting to optically thin emission from thehot coronal loops at the end of the gradual phase.

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arXiv2017

Formation of the thermal infrared continuum in solar flares

Observations of the Sun with the Atacama Large Millimeter Array have now started, and the thermal infrared will regularly be accessible from the NSF's Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope. Motivated by the prospect of these new data, and by recent flare observations in the mid infrared, we set out here to model and understand the source of the infrared continuum in flares, and to explore its diagnostic capability for the physical conditions in the flare atmosphere. We use the 1D radiation hydrodynamics code RADYN to calculate mid-infrared continuum emission from model atmospheres undergoing sudden deposition of energy by non-thermal electrons. We identify and characterise the main continuum thermal emission processes relevant to flare intensity enhancement in the mid- to far-infrared (2-200 $μ$m) spectral range as free-free emission on neutrals and ions. We find that the infrared intensity evolution tracks the energy input to within a second, albeit with a lingering intensity enhancement, and provides a very direct indication of the evolution of the atmospheric ionization. The prediction of highly impulsive emission means that, on these timescales, the atmospheric hydrodynamics need not be considered in analysing the mid-IR signatures.

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arXiv2016

Analysis of intermittency in submillimeter radio and hard X-Rays during the impulsive phase of a solar flare

We present an analysis of intermittent processes occurred during the impulsive phase of the flare SOL2012-03-13, using hard X-rays and submillimeter radio data. Intermittency is a key characteristic in turbulent plasmas and have been a analyzed recently for hard X-rays data only. Since in a typical flare the same accelerated electron population is believed to produce both hard X-rays and gyrosynchrotron, we compare both time profiles searching for intermittency signatures. For that we define a cross-wavelet power spectrum, that is used to obtain the Local Intermittency Measure or LIM. When greater than three, the square LIM coefficients indicate a local intermittent process. The LIM$^2$ coefficient distribution in time and scale helps to identify avalanche or cascade energy release processes. We find two different and well separated intermittent behaviors in the submillimeter data: for scales greater than 20 s, a broad distribution during the rising and maximum phases of the emission seems to favor a cascade process; for scales below 1 s, short pulses centered on the peak time, are representative of avalanches. When applying the same analysis to hard X-rays, we find only the scales above 10 s producing a distribution related to a cascade energy fragmentation. Our results suggest that different acceleration mechanisms are responsible for tens of keV and MeV energy ranges of electrons.

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arXiv2011

Sub-THz and Hα activity during the preflare and main phases of a GOES class M2 event

Radio and optical observations of the evolution of flare-associated phenomena have shown an initial and rapid burst at 0.4 THz only followed subsequently by a localized chromospheric heating producing an Hα brightening with later heating of the whole active region. A major instability occurred several minutes later producing one impulsive burst at microwaves only, associated with an M2.0 GOES X-ray flare that exhibited the main Hα brightening at the same site as the first flash. The possible association between long-enduring time profiles at soft X-rays, microwaves, Hα and sub-THz wavelengths is discussed. In the decay phase the Hα movie shows a disrupting magnetic arch structure ejecting dark, presumably chromospheric, material upwards. The time sequence of events suggests genuine interdependent and possibly non-thermal instabilities triggering phenomena, with concurrent active region plasma heating and material ejection.

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