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Paulo J. A. Simões

Publications and source records attributed to Paulo J. A. Simões.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

Delayed, Line-dependent Reorganization of Pore Oscillations Following a Compact C8.2 Flare Observed by Sunrise III/SUSI

Magnetic oscillations permeating the solar atmosphere can be altered by flares. This could be due to changes in the atmospheric magnetic waveguide, the thermodynamic stratification, or both. To investigate this, we examine oscillations in a magnetic pore crossed in part by the ribbon of a C8.2 flare, using observations from the Sunrise Ultraviolet Spectropolarimeter and Imager (SUSI) aboard Sunrise III. We track the core intensities of eight spectral lines between 327-329 nm and show that oscillatory power in the 4.2-7.0 mHz range, measured around 30 minutes after the flare peak, exceeds the pre-event value in all eight lines by factors of 1.60-8.71. Conversely, in the 7.0-11.5 mHz band, the post-event intensity power is lower - approximately 0.13-0.41 of the original power in seven of the observed lines. Line-center velocity measurements support the lower-frequency enhancement. This delayed, line-dependent shift toward the lower-frequency band is consistent with flare-induced changes in wave transmission, reflection, or resonant response, although thermodynamic and magnetic effects cannot yet be separated.

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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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Precise timing of solar flare footpoint sources from mid-infrared observations

Solar flares are powerful particle accelerators, and in the accepted standard flare model most of the flare energy is transported from a coronal energy-release region by accelerated electrons which stop collisionally in the chromosphere, heating and ionising the plasma, producing a broadband enhancement to the solar radiative output. We present a time-delay analysis of the infrared emission from two chromospheric sources in the flare SOL2014-09-24T17:50 taken at the McMath-Pierce telescope. By cross-correlating the intensity signals, measured with 1s cadence, from the two spatially resolved infrared sources we find a delay of 0.75 $\pm$ 0.07 s at 8.2 $μ$m, where the uncertainties are quantified by a Monte Carlo analysis. The sources correlate well in brightness but have a time lag larger than can be reasonably explained by the energy transport dominated by non-thermal electrons precipitating from a single acceleration site in the corona. If interpreted as a time-of-flight difference between electrons traveling to each footpoint, we estimate time delays between 0.14 s and 0.42 s, for a reconnection site at the interior quasi-separatrix layer or at the null-point of the spine-fan topology inferred for this event. We employed modelling of electron transport via time-dependent Fokker-Planck and radiative hydrodynamic simulations to evaluate other possible sources of time-delay in the generation of the IR emission, such as differing ionisation timescales under different chromospheric conditions. Our results demonstrate that they are also unable to account for this discrepancy. This flare appears to require energy transport by some means other than electron beams originating in the corona.

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Hydrogen recombination continuum as the radiative model for stellar optical flares

The study of stellar flares has increased with new observations from CoRoT, Kepler, and TESS satellites, revealing the broadband visible emission from these events. Typically, stellar flares have been modelled as $10^4$ K blackbody plasma to obtain estimates of their total energy. In the Sun, white light flares (WLFs) are much fainter than their stellar counterparts, and normally can only be detected via spatially resolved observations. Identifying the radiation mechanism for the formation of the visible spectrum from solar and stellar flares is crucial to understand the energy transfer processes during these events, but spectral data for WLFs are relatively rare, and insufficient to remove the ambiguity of their origin: photospheric blackbody radiation and/or Paschen continuum from hydrogen recombination in the chromosphere. We employed an analytical solution for the recombination continuum of hydrogen instead of the typically assumed $10^4$ K blackbody spectrum to study the energy of stellar flares and infer their fractional area coverage. We investigated 37 events from Kepler-411 and 5 events from Kepler-396, using both radiation mechanisms. We find that estimates for the total flare energy from the H recombination spectrum are about an order of magnitude lower than the values obtained from the blackbody radiation. Given the known energy transfer processes in flares, we argue that the former is a physically more plausible model than the latter to explain the origin of the broadband optical emission from flares.

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Statistical analysis of the onset temperature of solar flares in 2010-2011

Understanding the physical processes that trigger solar flares is paramount to help with forecasting space weather and mitigating the effects on our technological infrastructure. A previously unknown phenomenon was recently identified in solar flares: the plasma temperature, derived from soft X-ray (SXR) data, at the onset of four flares, was revealed to be in the range 10-15 MK, without evidence of gradual heating. To investigate how common the hot-onset phenomenon may be, we extend this investigation to solar flares of B1.2- X6.9 classes recorded by the X-ray Sensor (XRS) on-board the GOES-14 and GOES-15 satellites between 2010 and 2011. For this statistical study, we employed the same methodology as in recent work, where the pre-flare SXR flux of each flare is obtained manually, and the temperature and emission measure values are obtained by the flux ratio of the two GOES/XRS channels using the standard software. From 3224 events listed in the GOES flare catalog for 2010-2011, we have selected and analyzed 745 events for which the flare heliographic location was provided in the list, to investigate center-to-limb effects of the hot-onset phenomenon. Our results show that 559 out of 745 flares (75%) exhibit an onset temperature above 8.6 MK (the first quartile), with respective log10 of the emission measure values between 46.0 - 47.25 cm-3, indicating that small amounts of plasma are quickly heated to high temperatures. These results suggest that the hot-onset phenomenon is very common in solar flares.

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The need for focused, hard X-ray investigations of the Sun

Understanding the nature of energetic particles in the solar atmosphere is one of the most important outstanding problems in heliophysics. Flare-accelerated particles compose a huge fraction of the flare energy budget; they have large influences on how events develop; they are an important source of high-energy particles found in the heliosphere; and they are the single most important corollary to other areas of high-energy astrophysics. Despite the importance of this area of study, this topic has in the past decade received only a small fraction of the resources necessary for a full investigation. For example, NASA has selected no new Explorer-class instrument in the past two decades that is capable of examining this topic. The advances that are currently being made in understanding flare-accelerated electrons are largely undertaken with data from EOVSA (NSF), STIX (ESA), and NuSTAR (NASA Astrophysics). This is despite the inclusion in the previous Heliophysics decadal survey of the FOXSI concept as part of the SEE2020 mission, and also despite NASA's having invested heavily in readying the technology for such an instrument via four flights of the FOXSI sounding rocket experiment. Due to that investment, the instrumentation stands ready to implement a hard X-ray mission to investigate flare-accelerated electrons. This white paper describes the scientific motivation for why this venture should be undertaken soon.

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Formation Of The Lyman Continuum During Solar Flares

The Lyman Continuum (LyC; $<911.12$Å) forms at the top of the chromosphere in the quiet-Sun, making LyC a powerful tool for probing the chromospheric plasma during solar flares. To understand the effects of non-thermal energy deposition in the chromosphere during flares, we analysed LyC profiles from a grid of field-aligned radiative hydrodynamic models generated using the RADYN code as part of the F-CHROMA project. The spectral response of LyC, the temporal evolution of the departure coefficient of hydrogen, $b_1$, and the color temperature, $T_c$, in response to a range of non-thermal electron distribution functions, were investigated. The LyC intensity was seen to increase by 4-5.5 orders of magnitude during solar flares, responding most strongly to the non-thermal electron flux of the beam. Generally, $b_1$ decreased from $10^2$-$10^3$ to closer to unity during solar flares, indicating a stronger coupling to local conditions, while $T_c$ increased from $8$-$9$kK to $10$-$16$kK. $T_c$ was found to be approximately equal to the electron temperature of the plasma when $b_1$ was at a minimum. Both optically thick and optically thin components of LyC were found in agreement with the interpretation of recent observations. The optically thick layer forms deeper in the chromosphere during a flare compared to quiescent periods, whereas the optically thin layers form at higher altitudes due to chromospheric evaporation, in low-temperature, high-density regions propagating upwards. We put these results in the context of current and future missions.

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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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First High Resolution Interferometric Observation of a Solar Prominence With ALMA

We present the first observation of a solar prominence at $84-116$ GHz using the high resolution interferometric imaging of ALMA. Simultaneous observations in H$α$ from Białkaw Observatory and with SDO/AIA reveal similar prominence morphology to the ALMA observation. The contribution functions of 3 mm and H$α$ emission are shown to have significant overlap across a range of gas pressures. We estimate the maximum millimetre-continuum optical thickness to be $τ_\mathrm{3mm}\approx 2$, and the brightness temperature from the observed H$α$ intensity. The brightness temperature measured by ALMA is $\sim 6000-7000$ K in the prominence spine, which correlates well with the estimated brightness temperature for a gas temperature of 8000 K.

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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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Inferring the magnetic field asymmetry of solar flares from the degree of polarisation at millimetre wavelengths

Polarisation measurements of solar flares at millimetre-waves were used to investigate the magnetic field configuration of the emitting sources. We analyse two solar flares (SOL2013-02-17 and SOL2013-11-05) observed by the POlarisation Emission of Millimetre Activity at the Sun (POEMAS) at 45 and 90 GHz, at microwaves from 1 - 15 GHz by the Radio Solar Telescope Network (RSTN), and at high frequencies (212 GHz) by the Solar Submillimetre Telescope (SST). Also, hard X-rays from these flares were simultaneously detected by the Reuven Ramaty High-Energy Solar Spectroscopic Imager (RHESSI). The flux and polarisation radio spectra were fit using a model that simulates gyrosynchrotron emission in a spatially-varying 3D magnetic field loop structure. For the {modelling}, the magnetic loop geometry was fixed and the field strength was the only free parameter of the magnetic field. In addition, a uniform electron distribution was {assumed by} the model, with the number density of energetic electrons and the electron spectral index as free parameters. The fitted model reproduced reasonably well the observed degree of polarisation and radio flux spectra for each event yielding the physical parameters of the loop and flaring sources. Our results indicate that the high degree of polarisation during a solar flare can be explained by two sources located at the {footpoints} of highly asymmetric magnetic loops whereas low polarisation degrees arise from footpoint sources of symmetric magnetic loops.

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Planetary transits at radio wavelengths: secondary eclipses of hot Jupiter extended atmospheres

When a planet transits in front of its host star, a fraction of its light is blocked, decreasing the observed flux from the star. The same is expected to occur when observing the stellar radio flux. However, at radio wavelengths, the planet also radiates, depending on its temperature, and thus modifies the transit depths. We explore this scenario simulating the radio lightcurves of transits of hot-Jupiters, Kepler-17b and WASP-12b, around solar-like stars. We calculated the bremsstrahlung radio emission at 17, 100, and 400 GHz originated from the star, considering a solar atmospheric model. The planetary radio emission was calculated modelling the planets in two scenarios: as a blackbody or with a dense and hot extended atmosphere. In both cases the planet radiates and contributes to the total radio flux. For a blackbody planet, the transit depth is in the order of 2-4% and it is independent of the radio frequency. Hot-Jupiters planets with atmospheres appear bigger and brighter in radio, thus having a larger contribution to the total flux of the system. Therefore, the transit depths are larger than in the case of blackbody planets, reaching up to 8% at 17 GHz. Also the transit depth is frequency-dependent. Moreover, the transit caused by the planet passing behind the star is deeper than when the planet transits in front of the star, being as large as 18% at 400GHz. In all cases, the contribution of the planetary radio emission to the observed flux is evident when the planet transits behind the star.

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Thyr: A Volumetric Ray-Marching Tool for Simulating Microwave Emission

Gyrosynchrotron radiation is produced by solar flares, and can be used to infer properties of the accelerated electrons and magnetic field of the flaring region. This microwave emission is highly dependent on many local plasma parameters, and the viewing angle. To correctly interpret observations, detailed simulations of the emission are required. Additionally, gyrosynchrotron emission from the chromosphere has been largely ignored in modelling efforts, and recent studies have shown the importance of thermal emission at millimetric wavelengths. Thyr is a new tool for modelling microwave emission from three-dimensional flaring loops with spatially varying atmosphere and increased resolution in the lower corona and chromosphere. Thyr is modular and open-source, consisting of separate components to compute the thermal and non-thermal microwave emission coefficients and perform three-dimensional radiative transfer (in local thermodynamic equilibrium). The radiative transfer integral is computed by a novel ray-marching technique to efficiently compute the contribution of many volume elements. This technique can also be employed on a variety of astrophysics problems. Herein we present a review of the theory of gyrosynchrotron radiation, and two simulations of identical flare loops in low- and high-resolution performed with Thyr, with a spectral imaging analysis of differing regions. The high-resolution simulation presents a spectral hardening at higher frequencies. This hardening originates around the top of the chromosphere due to the strong convergence of the magnetic field, and is not present in previous models due to insufficient resolution. This hardening could be observed with a coordinated flare observation from active radio observatories.

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First Spectral Analysis of a Solar Plasma Eruption Using ALMA

The aim of this study is to demonstrate how the logarithmic millimeter continuum gradient observed using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) may be used to estimate optical thickness in the solar atmosphere. We discuss how using multi-wavelength millimeter measurements can refine plasma analysis through knowledge of the absorption mechanisms. Here we use sub-band observations from the publicly available science verification (SV) data, whilst our methodology will also be applicable to regular ALMA data. The spectral resolving capacity of ALMA SV data is tested using the enhancement coincident with an X-ray Bright Point (XBP) and from a plasmoid ejection event near active region NOAA12470 observed in Band 3 (84-116 GHz) on 17/12/2015. We compute the interferometric brightness temperature light-curve for both features at each of the four constituent sub-bands to find the logarithmic millimetre spectrum. We compared the observed logarithmic spectral gradient with the derived relationship with optical thickness for an isothermal plasma to estimate the structure's optical thicknesses. We conclude, within 90% confidence, that the stationary enhancement has an optical thickness between $0.02 \leq τ\leq 2.78$, and that the moving enhancement has $0.11 \leq τ\leq 2.78$, thus both lie near to the transition between optically thin and thick plasma at 100 GHz. From these estimates, isothermal plasmas with typical Band 3 background brightness temperatures would be expected to have electron temperatures of $\sim 7370 - 15300$ K for the stationary enhancement and between $\sim 7440 - 9560$ K for the moving enhancement, thus demonstrating the benefit of sub-band ALMA spectral analysis.

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Solar polar brightening and radius at 100 and 230 GHz observed by ALMA

Polar brightening of the Sun at radio frequencies has been studied for almost fifty years and yet a disagreement persists between solar atmospheric models and observations. Some observations reported brightening values much smaller than the expected values obtained from the models, with discrepancies being particularly large at millimeter wavelengths. New clues to calibrate the atmospheric models can be obtained with the advent of the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) radio interferometer. In this work, we analyzed the lower limit of the polar brightening observed at 100 and 230 GHz by ALMA, during its Science Verification period, 2015 December 16-20. We find that the average polar intensity is higher than the disk intensity at 100 and 230 GHz, with larger brightness intensities at the South pole in eight of the nine maps analyzed. The observational results were compared with calculations of the millimetric limb brightnening emission for two semi-empirical atmospheric models, FAL- C (Fontenla et al. 1993) and SSC (Selhorst et al. 2005a). Both models presented larger limb intensities than the averaged observed values. The intensities obtained with the SSC model were closer to the observations, with polar brightenings of 10.5% and 17.8% at 100 and 230 GHz, respectively. This discrepancy may be due to the presence of chromospheric features (like spicules) at regions close to the limb.

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The spectral content of SDO/AIA 1600 and 1700 Å filters from flare and plage observations

The strong enhancement of the ultraviolet emission during solar flares is usually taken as an indication of plasma heating in the lower solar atmosphere caused by the deposition of the energy released during these events. Images taken with broadband ultraviolet filters by the {\em Transition Region and Coronal Explorer} (TRACE) and {\em Atmospheric Imaging Assembly} (AIA 1600 and 1700~Å) have revealed the morphology and evolution of flare ribbons in great detail. However, the spectral content of these images is still largely unknown. Without the knowledge of the spectral contribution to these UV filters, the use of these rich imaging datasets is severely limited. Aiming to solve this issue, we estimate the spectral contributions of the AIA UV flare and plage images using high-resolution spectra in the range 1300 to 1900~Å from the Skylab NRL SO82B spectrograph. We find that the flare excess emission in AIA 1600~Å is { dominated by} the \ion{C}{4} 1550~Å doublet (26\%), \ion{Si}{1} continua (20\%), with smaller contributions from many other chromospheric lines such as \ion{C}{1} 1561 and 1656~Å multiplets, \ion{He}{2} 1640~Å, \ion{Si}{2} 1526 and 1533~Å. For the AIA 1700~Å band, \ion{C}{1} 1656~Å multiplet is the main contributor (38\%), followed by \ion{He}{2} 1640 (17\%), and accompanied by a multitude of other, { weaker} chromospheric lines, with minimal contribution from the continuum. Our results can be generalized to state that the AIA UV flare excess emission is of chromospheric origin, while plage emission is dominated by photospheric continuum emission in both channels.

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Reproducing Type II White-Light Solar Flare Observations with Electron and Proton Beam Simulations

We investigate the cause of the suppressed Balmer series and the origin of the white-light continuum emission in the X1.0 class solar flare on 2014 June 11. We use radiative hydrodynamic simulations to model the response of the flaring atmosphere to both electron and proton beams which are energetically constrained using RHESSI and Fermi observations. A comparison of synthetic spectra with the observations allow us to narrow the range of beam fluxes and low energy cut-off that may be applicable to this event. We conclude that the electron and proton beams that can reproduce the observed spectral features are those that have relatively low fluxes and high values for the low energy cut-off. While electron beams shift the upper chromosphere and transition region to greater geometrical heights, proton beams with a similar flux leave these areas of the atmosphere relatively undisturbed. It is easier for proton beams to penetrate to the deeper layers and not deposit their energy in the upper chromosphere where the Balmer lines are formed. The relatively weak particle beams that are applicable to this flare do not cause a significant shift of the $τ=1$ surface and the observed excess WL emission is optically thin.

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Estimation of a Coronal Mass Ejection Magnetic Field Strength using Radio Observations of Gyrosynchrotron Radiation

Coronal mass ejections (CMEs) are large eruptions of plasma and magnetic field from the low solar corona into interplanetary space. These eruptions are often associated with the acceleration of energetic electrons which produce various sources of high intensity plasma emission. In relatively rare cases, the energetic electrons may also produce gyrosynchrotron emission from within the CME itself, allowing for a diagnostic of the CME magnetic field strength. Such a magnetic field diagnostic is important for evaluating the total magnetic energy content of the CME, which is ultimately what drives the eruption. Here we report on an unusually large source of gyrosynchrotron radiation in the form of a type IV radio burst associated with a CME occurring on 2014-September-01, observed using instrumentation from the Nançay Radio Astronomy Facility. A combination of spectral flux density measurements from the Nançay instruments and the Radio Solar Telescope Network (RSTN) from 300MHz to 5 GHz reveals a gyrosynchrotron spectrum with a peak flux density at $>$1 GHz. Using this radio analysis, a model for gyrosynchrotron radiation, a non-thermal electron density diagnostic using the Fermi Gamma Ray Burst Monitor (GBM) and images of the eruption from the GOES Soft X-ray Imager (SXI), we are able to calculate both the magnetic field strength and the properties of the X-ray and radio emitting energetic electrons within the CME. We find the radio emission is produced by non-thermal electrons of energies >1MeV with a spectral index of $δ$$\sim$3 in a CME magnetic field of 4.4 G at a height of 1.3 R$_{\odot}$, while the X-ray emission is produced from a similar distribution of electrons but with much lower energies on the order of 10 keV. We conclude by comparing X-ray and radio-emitting electron distributions and how such an analysis can be used to define the plasma properties of a CME.

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