arXiv subjects

Francisco Espinosa Lara

Publications and source records attributed to Francisco Espinosa Lara.

13 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Solar Orbiter observations of solar energetic electron events associated with hard microflares

Generally, large solar flares accelerate electrons to high energies more efficiently than microflares. However, some microflares, known as hard microflares (HMFs), also produce high-energy electrons, as indicated by their flat hard X-ray (HXR) spectra. These events are typically associated with footpoints located in or at the edge of sunspots. The mechanisms behind this efficient acceleration, and their connection to solar energetic electrons (SEEs), remain unclear. We compare, for the first time, HXR spectra of HMFs with in-situ electron spectra of associated SEEs using Solar Orbiter STIX and EPD observations. This provides insight into acceleration processes and the transport of high-energy electrons into interplanetary space. We identify eight HMFs observed jointly by Solar Orbiter and Earth-based instruments that are associated with SEEs, confirmed through timing and magnetic connectivity analysis. Each event is studied using HXR spectroscopy, SEE velocity-dispersion analysis, and in-situ electron spectral analysis. Seven of eight events show consistent timing between flare HXR emission and inferred electron injection, as well as good agreement with magnetic connectivity estimates. The known correlation between HXR photon and in-situ electron spectral indices extends to HMFs, which occupy the hard end of the distribution, even compared to larger flares. We conclude that HMFs produce prompt SEEs with hard spectra, demonstrating efficient electron acceleration without requiring large flare energy release. Their magnetic configuration, involving open field lines from the sunspot, suggests they may be an important contributor to filling the heliosphere with energetic particles.

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arXiv2025

A Tale of Two Shocks

Energetic particles in interplanetary space are normally measured at time scales that are long compared to the ion gyroperiod. Such observations by necessity average out the microphysics associated with the acceleration and transport of 10s - 100s keV particles. We investigate previously unseen non-equilibrium features that only become observable at very high time resolution, and discuss possible explanations of these features. We use unprecedentedly high-time-resolution data that were acquired by the in situ instruments on Solar Orbiter in the vicinity of two interplanetary shocks observed on 2023-11-29 07:51:17 UTC and 2023-11-30 10:47:26 UTC at $\sim 0.83$ astronomical units from the Sun. The solar-wind proton beam population follows the magnetic field instantaneously, on time scales which are significantly shorter than a gyro-period. Energetic particles, despite sampling large volumes of space, vary on remarkably short time scales, typically on the order of the convection time of their gyro-radius. Non-equilibrium features such as bump-on-tail distributions of energetic particles are formed by small-scale magnetic structures in the IMF. High-time-resolution observations show previously unobserved microphysics in the vicinity of two traveling interplanetary shocks, including ion reflection at a current sheet, which may explain where ions are reflected in shock acceleration.

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arXiv2024

Energetic particle contamination in STIX during Solar Orbiter's passage through Earth's radiation belts and an interplanetary shock

The Spectrometer/Telescope for Imaging X-rays (STIX) is a hard X-ray imaging spectrometer on board the ESA and NASA heliospheric mission Solar Orbiter. STIX has been operational for three years and has observed X-ray emission from ~35,000 solar flares. Throughout its lifetime, Solar Orbiter has been frequently struck by a high flux of energetic particles usually of flare origin, or from coronal mass ejection shocks. These Solar Energetic Particles (SEPs) are detected on board by the purpose-built energetic particle detector instrument suite. During SEP events, the X-ray signal is also contaminated in STIX. This work investigates the effect of these particles on the STIX instrument for two events. The first event occurred during an interplanetary shock crossing and the second event occurred when Solar Orbiter passed through Earth's radiation belts while performing a gravity assist maneuver. The induced spectra consist of tungsten fluorescence emission lines and secondary Bremsstrahlung emission produced by incident particles interacting with spacecraft components. For these two events, we identify > 100 keV electrons as significant contributors to the contamination via Bremsstrahlung emission and tungsten fluorescence.

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arXiv2024

A two-dimensional perspective of the rotational evolution of rapidly rotating intermediate-mass stars

Recently, the first successful attempt at computing stellar models in two dimensions has been presented with models that include the centrifugal deformation and self-consistently compute the velocity field. This paper aims at studying the rotational evolution of 2D models of stars rotating at a significant fraction of their critical angular velocity. From the predictions of these models, we aim to improve our understanding of the formation of single Be stars. Using the ESTER code that solves the stellar structure of a rotating star in two dimensions with time evolution, we have computed evolution tracks of stars between 4 and 10Msun for initial rotation rates ranging between 60 and 90% the critical rotation rate. A minimum initial rotation rate at the start of the main sequence is needed to spin up the star to critical rotation within its main sequence lifetime. This threshold depends on the stellar mass, and increases with increasing mass. The models do not predict any stars above 8Msun to reach (near) critical rotation during the main sequence. Furthermore, we find the minimum threshold of initial angular velocity is lower for SMC metallicity compared to Galactic metallicity, which is in agreement with the increased fraction in the number of observed Be stars in lower metallicity environments. Self-consistent 2D stellar evolution provide more insight into the rotational evolution of intermediate-mass stars, and our predictions are consistent with observations of velocity distributions and fraction of Be stars amongst B-type stars. We find that stars with a mass above 8Msun do not increase their fraction of critical rotation during the main sequence. Since a fraction of stars above 8Msun have been observed to display the Be phenomenon, other processes or formation channels must be at play, or critical rotation is not required for the Be phenomenon above this mass.

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arXiv2023

The first two-dimensional stellar structure and evolution models of rotating stars

Rotation is a key ingredient in the theory of stellar structure and evolution. Until now, stellar evolution codes operate in a 1-D framework for which the validity domain in regards to the rotation rate is not well understood. This letter aims at presenting the first results of self-consistent stellar models in two spatial dimensions that compute the time evolution of a star and its rotation rate along the main sequence together with a comparison to observations. We make use of an extended version of the ESTER code that solves the stellar structure of a rotating star in two dimensions with time evolution, including chemical evolution, and an implementation of rotational mixing. We have computed evolution tracks for a 12Msun model, once for an initial rotation rate equal to 15% of the critical frequency, and once for 50%. We first show that our model initially rotating at 15% of the critical frequency is able to reproduce all the observations of the $β$ Cephei star HD 192575 recently studied by Burssens et al. with asteroseismology. Beyond the classical surface parameters like effective temperature or luminosity, our model also reproduces the core mass along with the rotation rate of the core and envelope at the estimated age of the star. This particular model also shows that the meridional circulation has a negligible influence on the transport of chemical elements, like nitrogen, for which the abundance may be increased at the stellar surface. Furthermore, it shows that in the late main sequence, nuclear evolution is faster than the relaxation time needed to reach a steady state of the star angular momentum distribution. We have demonstrated that we have successfully taken the new step towards 2-D evolutionary modelling of rotating stars. It opens new perspectives on the understanding of the dynamics of fast rotating stars and on the way rotation impacts stellar evolution.

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arXiv2021

Radial Evolution of the April 2020 Stealth Coronal Mass Ejection between 0.8 and 1 AU -- A Comparison of Forbush Decreases at Solar Orbiter and Earth

Aims. We present observations of the first coronal mass ejection (CME) observed at the Solar Orbiter spacecraft on April 19, 2020, and the associated Forbush decrease (FD) measured by its High Energy Telescope (HET). This CME is a multispacecraft event also seen near Earth the next day. Methods. We highlight the capabilities of HET for observing small short-term variations of the galactic cosmic ray count rate using its single detector counters. The analytical ForbMod model is applied to the FD measurements to reproduce the Forbush decrease at both locations. Input parameters for the model are derived from both in situ and remote-sensing observations of the CME. Results. The very slow (~350 km/s) stealth CME caused a FD with an amplitude of 3 % in the low-energy cosmic ray measurements at HET and 2 % in a comparable channel of the Cosmic Ray Telescope for the Effects of Radiation (CRaTER) on the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, as well as a 1 % decrease in neutron monitor measurements. Significant differences are observed in the expansion behavior of the CME at different locations, which may be related to influence of the following high speed solar wind stream. Under certain assumptions, ForbMod is able to reproduce the observed FDs in low-energy cosmic ray measurements from HET as well as CRaTER, but with the same input parameters, the results do not agree with the FD amplitudes at higher energies measured by neutron monitors on Earth. We study these discrepancies and provide possible explanations. Conclusions. This study highlights that the novel measurements of the Solar Orbiter can be coordinated with other spacecraft to improve our understanding of space weather in the inner heliosphere. Multi-spacecraft observations combined with data-based modeling are also essential to understand the propagation and evolution of CMEs as well as their space weather impacts.

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arXiv2018

The evolved fast rotator Sargas. Stellar parameters and evolutionary status from VLTI/PIONIER and VLT/UVES

Gravity darkening (GD) and flattening are important consequences of stellar rotation. The precise characterization of these effects across the HRD is crucial to a deeper understanding of stellar structure and evolution. We seek to characterize such important effects on Sargas, an evolved, fast-rotating, intermediate-mass star, located in a region of the HRD where they have never been directly measured as far as we know. We use our numerical model CHARRON to analyze interferometric (VLTI/PIONIER) and spectroscopic (VLT/UVES) observations through a MCMC model-fitting procedure. The visibilities and closure phases from the PIONIER data are particularly sensitive to rotational flattening and GD. Adopting the Roche approximation, we investigate two GD models: (1) the beta-model (classical von Zeipel's law), and (2) the omega-model. Using this approach we measure several physical parameters of Sargas, namely, equatorial radius, mass, equatorial rotation velocity, mean Teff, inclination and position angle of the rotation axis, and beta. In particular, we show that the measured beta leads to a surface flux distribution equivalent to the one given by the omega-model. Thanks to our results, we also show that Sargas is most probably located in a rare and interesting region of the H-R diagram: within the Hertzsprung gap and over the hot edge of the instability strip. These results show once more the power of optical/IR long-baseline interferometry, combined with high-resolution spectroscopy, to directly measure fast-rotation effects and stellar parameters, in particular GD. As was the case for a few fast rotators previously studied by interferometry, the omega-model provides a physically more profound description of Sargas' GD, without the need of a beta exponent.

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arXiv2013

Pulsations of rapidly rotating stars with compositional discontinuities

Recent observations of rapidly rotating stars have revealed the presence of regular patterns in their pulsation spectra. This has raised the question as to their physical origin, and in particular, whether they can be explained by an asymptotic frequency formula for low-degree acoustic modes, as recently discovered through numerical calculations and theoretical considerations. In this context, a key question is whether compositional/density gradients can adversely affect such patterns to the point of hindering their identification. To answer this question, we calculate frequency spectra using two-dimensional ESTER stellar models. These models use a multi-domain spectral approach, allowing us to easily insert a compositional discontinuity while retaining a high numerical accuracy. We analyse the effects of such discontinuities on both the frequencies and eigenfunctions of pulsation modes in the asymptotic regime. We find that although there is more scatter around the asymptotic frequency formula, the semi-large frequency separation can still be clearly identified in a spectrum of low-degree acoustic modes.

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arXiv2013

Two-dimensional models of early-type fast rotating stars: new challenges in stellar physics

Two-dimensional models of rapidly rotating stars are already unavoidable for the interpretation of interferometric or asteroseismic data of this kind of stars. When combined with time evolution, they will allow the including of a more accurate physics for the computation of element transport and the determination of surface abundances. In addition, modeling the evolution of rotation will improve gyrochronology. Presently, two-dimensional ESTER models predict the structure and the large-scale flows (differential rotation and meridional circulation) of stars with mass larger than 1.7Msun at any rotation rate. Main sequence evolution can be mimicked by varying the hydrogen content of the convective core. Models have been successfully tested on half a dozen of nearby fast rotating stars observed with optical or infra-red interferometers. They are now the right tool to investigate the oscillation spectrum of early-type fast rotators.

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arXiv2013

Asteroseismology of fast-rotating stars: the example of alpha Ophiuchi

Many early-type stars have been measured with high angular velocities. In such stars, mode identification is difficult as the effects of fast and differential rotation are not well known. Using fundamental parameters measured by interferometry, the ESTER structure code and the TOP oscillation code, we investigate the oscillation spectrum of Rasalhague (alpha Ophiuchi), for which observations by the MOST satellite found 57 oscillations frequencies. Results do not show a clear identification of the modes and highlight the difficulties of asteroseismology for such stars with a very complex oscillation spectrum.

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arXiv2012

Gravity Darkening in Binary Stars

Context.Interpretation of light curves of many types of binary stars requires the inclusion of the (cor)relation between surface brightness and local effective gravity. Until recently, this correlation has always been modeled by a power law relating the flux or the effective temperature and the effective gravity, namely T_eff α g_eff^β. Aims. We look for a simple model that can describe the variations of the flux at the surface of stars belonging to a binary system. Methods. This model assumes that the energy flux is a divergence-free vector anti-parallel to the effective gravity. The effective gravity is computed from the Roche model. Results. After explaining in a simple manner the old result of Lucy (1967), which says that β=0.08 for solar type stars, we first argue that one-dimensional models should no longer be used to evaluate gravity darkening laws. We compute the correlation between log T_eff and log g_eff using a new approach that is valid for synchronous, weakly magnetized, weakly irradiated binaries. We show that this correlation is approximately linear, validating the use of a power law relation between effective temperature and effective gravity as a first approximation. We further show that the exponent β of this power law is a slowly varying function, which we tabulate, of the mass ratio of the binary star and the Roche lobe filling factor of the stars of the system. The exponent β remains mostly in the interval (0.20, 0.25) if extreme mass ratios are eliminated. Conclusions. For binary stars that are synchronous, weakly magnetized and weakly irradiated, the gravity darkening exponent is well constrained and may be removed from the free parameters of the models.

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arXiv2012

Ab initio modelling of steady rotating stars

Modelling isolated rotating stars at any rotation rate is a challenge for the next generation of stellar models. These models will couple dynamical aspects of rotating stars, like angular momentum and chemicals transport, with classical chemical evolution, gravitational contraction or mass-loss. Such modelling needs to be achieved in two dimensions, combining the calculation of the structure of the star, its mean flows and the time-evolution of the whole. We present here a first step in this challenging programme. It leads to the first self-consistent two-dimensional models of rotating stars in a steady state generated by the ESTER code. In these models the structure (pressure, density and temperature) and the flow fields are computed in a self-consistent way allowing the prediction of the differential rotation and the associated meridian circulation of the stars. After a presentation of the physical properties of such models and the numerical methods at work, we give the first grid of such models describing massive and intermediate-mass stars for a selection of rotation rates up to 90% of the breakup angular velocity.

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arXiv2011

Gravity darkening in rotating stars

Interpretation of interferometric observations of rapidly rotating stars requires a good model of their surface effective temperature. Until now, laws of the form T_eff \propto g_eff^β have been used, but they are only valid for slowly rotating stars. We propose a simple model that can describe the latitudinal variations in the flux of rotating stars at any rotation rate. This model assumes that the energy flux is a divergence-free vector that is antiparallel to the effective gravity. When mass distribution can be described by a Roche model, the latitudinal variations in the effective temperature only depend on a single parameter, namely the ratio of the equatorial velocity to the Keplerian velocity. We validate this model by comparing its predictions to those of the most realistic two-dimensional models of rotating stars issued from the ESTER code. The agreement is very good, as it is with the observations of two rapidly rotating stars, α Aql and α Leo. We suggest that as long as a gray atmosphere can be accepted, the inversion of data on flux distribution coming from interferometric observations of rotating stars uses such a model, which has just one free parameter.

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