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T. S. Bastian

Publications and source records attributed to T. S. Bastian.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

ALMA Observations of Solar Spicules in a Polar Coronal Hole

We report observations of solar spicules at millimeter wavelengths (mm-$λ$) using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA). These are supplemented by observations in optical (O), ultraviolet (UV) and extreme ultraviolet (EUV) wavelengths. The observations were made on 2018 December 25 of the northern polar coronal hole. ALMA obtained time-resolved imaging observations at wavelengths of 3 mm (100 GHz; 2~s cadence) and 1.25~mm (239 GHz; $\approx 2$~min cadence) with an angular resolution of $2.2" \times 1.3"$ and $1.5" \times 0.7"$, respectively. Spicules observed at mm-$λ$ are easily seen low in the chromosphere whereas spicules in UV bands are seen to extend higher. The spicules observed at mm-$λ$ are seen in absorption against coronal EUV emission, allowing us to estimate the column depth of neutral hydrogen. Spicular emission at mm-$λ$, due to thermal free-free radiation, allows us to estimate the electron number density as a function of height. We find that spicule densities, inferred from the mm-$λ$ data are uniquely insensitive to assumptions regarding the temperature of plasma in spicules. We suggest that the upward mass flux carried by spicules is unlikely to play a significant role in the mass budget of the solar corona and solar wind, and the transport of hot material into the corona by spicules may not play a significant role in coronal heating. However, the possibility that electric currents, fast kink and torsional waves, or other wave modes carried by spicules may play a role in transporting energy into the solar corona cannot be excluded.

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Understanding the Relationship between Solar Coronal Abundances and F10.7 cm Radio Emission

Sun-as-a-star coronal plasma composition, derived from full-Sun spectra, and the F10.7 radio flux (2.8 GHz) have been shown to be highly correlated (r = 0.88) during solar cycle 24. However, this correlation becomes nonlinear during increased solar magnetic activity. Here, we use co-temporal, high spatial resolution, multi-wavelength images of the Sun to investigate the underlying causes of the non-linearity between coronal composition (FIP bias) and F10.7 solar index correlation. Using the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (JVLA), Hinode/EIS (EUV Imaging Spectrometer), and the Solar Dynamic Observatory (SDO), we observed a small active region, AR 12759, throughout the solar atmosphere from the photosphere to the corona. Results of this study show that the magnetic field strength (flux density) in active regions plays an important role in the variability of coronal abundances, and it is likely the main contributing factor to this non-linearity during increased solar activity. Coronal abundances above cool sunspots are lower than in dispersed magnetic plage regions. Strong magnetic concentrations are associated with stronger F10.7 cm gyroresonance emission. Considering that as the solar cycle moves from minimum to maximum, the size of sunspots and their field strength increase with gyroresonance component, the distinctly different tendencies of radio emission and coronal abundances in the vicinity of sunspots is the likely cause of saturation of Sun-as-a-star coronal abundances during solar maximum, while the F10.7 index remains well correlated with the sunspot number and other magnetic field proxies.

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A first look at the submillimeter Sun with ALMA

We present the first full-disk solar images obtained with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) in Band 7 (0.86 mm; 347 GHz). In spite of the low spatial resolution (21"), several interesting results were obtained. During our observation, the sun was practically devoid of active regions. Quiet Sun structures on the disk are similar to those in Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) images at 1600 A and 304 A, after the latter are smoothed to the ALMA resolution, as noted previously for Band 6 (1.26 mm) and Band 3 (3 mm) images; they are also similar to negative H$α$ images of equivalent resolution. Polar coronal holes, which are clearly seen in the 304 A band and small H$α$ filaments, are not detectable at 0.86 mm. We computed the center-to-limb variation (CLV) of the brightness temperature, $T_b$, in Band 7, as well as in Bands 6 and 3, which were obtained during the same campaign, and we combined them to a unique curve of $T_b(\logμ_{100})$, where $μ_{100}$ is the cosine of the heliocentric angle reduced to 100 GHz. Assuming that the absolute calibration of the Band 3 commissioning observations is accurate, we deduced a brightness temperature at the center of the disk of 6085 K for Band 7, instead of the value of 5500 K, extrapolated from the recommended values for Bands 3 and 6. More importantly, the $T_b(\logμ_{100})$ curve flattens at large values of $μ_{100}$, and so does the corresponding $T_e(\logτ_{100})$ at large $τ_{100}$. This is probably an indication that we are approaching the temperature minimum.

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ALMA observations of the variability of the quiet Sun at millimeter wavelengths

Using Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) observations of the quiet Sun at 1.26 and 3 mm, we study spatially resolved oscillations and transient brightenings, i.e. small, weak events of energy release. Both phenomena may have a bearing on the heating of the chromosphere. At 1.26 mm, in addition to power spectra of the original data, we degraded the images to the spatial resolution of the 3 mm images and used fields of view of equal area for both data sets. The detection of transient brightenings was made after the oscillations were removed. At both frequencies we detected p-mode oscillations in the range 3.6-4.4 mHz. In the corrected data sets, the oscillations at 1.26 and 3 mm showed brightness temperature fluctuations of ~1.7-1.8% with respect to the average quiet Sun, corresponding to 137 and 107 K, respectively. They represented a fraction of 0.55-0.68 of the full power spectrum and their energy density at 1.26 mm was 0.03 erg cm$^{-3}$. We detected 77 transient brightenings at 1.26 mm and 115 at 3 mm. Although the majority of the 1.26 mm events occurred in cell interior, their occurrence rate per unit area was higher than that of the 3 mm events. The computed low-end energy of the 1.26 mm transient brightenings ($1.8 \times 10^{23}$ erg) is among the smallest ever reported, irrespective of the wavelength of observation. However, their power per unit area is smaller than that of the 3 mm events, probably due to the detection of many weak 1.26 mm events. We also found that ALMA bright network structures corresponded to dark mottles/spicules seen in broadband H$α$ images from the GONG network.

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Radio Spectral Imaging of an M8.4 Eruptive Solar Flare: Possible Evidence of a Termination Shock

Solar flare termination shocks have been suggested as one of the viable mechanisms for accelerating electrons and ions to high energies. Observational evidence of such shocks, however, remains rare. Using radio dynamic spectroscopic imaging of a long-duration C1.9 flare obtained by the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA), Chen et al. (2015) suggested that a type of coherent radio bursts, referred to as "stochastic spike bursts," were radio signatures of nonthermal electrons interacting with myriad density fluctuations at the front of a flare termination shock. Here we report another stochastic spike burst event recorded during the extended energy release phase of a long-duration M8.4-class eruptive flare on 2012 March 10. VLA radio spectroscopic imaging of the spikes in 1.0--1.6 GHz shows that similar to the case of Chen et al. (2015), the burst centroids form an extended, ~10''-long structure in the corona. By combining extreme-ultraviolet imaging observations of the flare from two vantage points with hard X-ray and ultraviolet observations of the flare ribbon brightenings, we reconstruct the flare arcade in three dimensions. The results show that the spike source is located at ~60 Mm above the flare arcade, where a diffuse supra-arcade fan and multitudes of plasma downflows are present. Although the flare arcade and ribbons seen during the impulsive phase do not allow us to clearly understand how the observed spike source location is connected to the flare geometry, the cooling flare arcade observed two hours later suggests that the spikes are located in the above-the-loop-top region, where a termination shock presumably forms.

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Modeling the quiet Sun cell and network emission with ALMA

ALMA observations of the Sun at mm-$λ$ offer a unique opportunity to investigate the temperature structure of the solar chromosphere. In this article we expand our previous work on modeling the chromospheric temperature of the quiet Sun, by including measurements of the brightness temperature in the network and cell interiors, from high resolution ALMA images at 3 mm (Band 3) and 1.26 mm (Band 6). We also examine the absolute calibration of ALMA full-disk images. We suggest that the brightness temperature at the center of the solar disk in Band 6 is $\sim440$ K above the value recommended by White et al. (2017) and we give improved results for the electron temperature variation of the average quiet Sun with optical depth, as well as the derived spectrum at the center of the disk. We found that the electron temperature in the network is considerably lower than predicted by model F of Fontenla et al. (1993) and that of the cell interior considerably higher than predicted by model A. Depending upon the network/cell segregation scheme, the electron temperature difference between network and cell at $τ=1$ (100 GHz) is from $\sim$660 to $\sim$1550 K, compared to $\sim$3280 K predicted by the models; similarly, the $T_e$ ratio is from $\sim$1.10, to 1.24, against $\sim$1.55 of the model prediction. We also found that the network/cell $T_e(τ)$ curves diverge as $τ$ decreases, indicating an increase of contrast with height and possibly a steeper temperature rise in the network than in the cell interior.

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Transient brightenings in the quiet Sun detected by ALMA at 3 mm

Using ALMA observations, we performed the first systematic survey for transient brightenings (i.e. weak, small-scale episodes of energy release) in the quiet solar chromosphere at 3 mm. Our dataset included images of six 87'' x 87'' regions of the quiet Sun obtained with angular resolution of a few arcsec at a cadence of 2 s. The transient brightenings were detected as weak enhancements above the average intensity after we removed the effect of the p-mode oscillations. A similar analysis, over the same regions, was performed for simultaneous 304 and 1600 Å data obtained with the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly. We detected 184 3 mm transient brightening events with brightness temperatures from 70 K to more than 500 K above backgrounds of $\sim 7200-7450$ K. Their mean duration and maximum area were 51.1 s and 12.3 Mm$^2$, respectively, with a weak preference of appearing at network boundaries rather than in cell interiors. Both parameters exhibited power-law behavior with indices of 2.35 and 2.71, respectively. Only a small fraction of ALMA events had either 304 or 1600 Å counterparts but the properties of these events were not significantly different from those of the general population except that they lacked their low-end energy values. The total thermal energies of the ALMA transient brightenings were between $1.5 \times 10^{24}$ and $9.9 \times 10^{25}$ erg and their frequency distribution versus energy was a power law with an index of 1.67. We found that the power per unit area provided by the ALMA events could account for only 1\% of the chromospheric radiative losses (10\% of the coronal ones). Therefore, their energy budget falls short of meeting the requirements for the heating of the upper layers of the solar atmosphere and this conclusion does not change even if we use the least restrictive criteria possible for the detection of transient brightenings.

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Observations of solar chromospheric oscillations at 3 mm with ALMA

We studied chromospheric oscillations using Atacama Large millimeter and sub-millimeter Array (ALMA) time-series of interferometric observations of the quiet Sun obtained at 3 mm with a 2-s cadence and a spatial resolution of a few arcsec. The same analysis, over the same fields of view and for the same intervals, was performed for simultaneous Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) image sequences in 1600 A. Spatially-resolved chromospheric oscillations at 3 mm, with frequencies of $ 4.2 +- 1.7$ mHz are observed in the quiet Sun, in both cell and network. The coherence length-scale of the oscillations is commensurate with the spatial resolution of our ALMA observations. Brightness-temperature fluctuations in individual pixels could reach up to a few hundred K, while the spatially averaged power spectral densities yield rms in the range ~ 55-75 K, i.e., up to ~ 1 % of the averaged brightness temperatures and exhibit a moderate increase towards the limb. For AIA 1600 A, the oscillation frequency is 3.7 +- 1.7 mHz. The relative rms is up to 6 % of the background intensity, with a weak increase towards disk center (cell, average). ALMA 3 mm time-series lag AIA 1600 A by ~ 100 s, which corresponds to a formation-height difference of ~ 1200 km. The ALMA oscillations that we detected exhibit higher amplitudes than those derived from the lower (~ 10 arcsec) resolution observations at 3.5 mm by White et al. (2006). Chromospheric oscillations are, therefore, not fully resolved at the length-scale of the chromospheric network, and possibly not even at the spatial resolution of our ALMA observations. Any study of transient brightenings in the mm-domain should take into account the oscillations.

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First high-resolution look at the quiet Sun with ALMA at 3 mm

We present an overview of high resolution quiet Sun observations, from disk center to the limb, obtained with the Atacama Large mm and sub-mm Array (ALMA) at 3 mm. Seven quiet Sun regions were observed with resolution of up to 2.5" by 4.5". We produced both average and snapshot images by self-calibrating the ALMA visibilities and combining the interferometric images with full disk solar images. The images show well the chromospheric network, which, based on the unique segregation method we used, is brighter than the average over the fields of view of the observed regions by $\sim 305$ K while the intranetwork is less bright by $\sim 280$ K, with a slight decrease of the network/intranetwork contrast toward the limb. At 3 mm the network is very similar to the 1600 Å images, with somewhat larger size. We detected for the first time spicular structures, rising up to 15" above the limb with a width down to the image resolution and brightness temperature of $\sim$ 1800 K above the local background. No trace of spicules, either in emission or absorption, was found on the disk. Our results highlight ALMA's potential for the study of the quiet chromosphere.

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Science with an ngVLA: Observations of the Solar Wind

The ngVLA has the potential to play a significant role in characterizing properties of the outer corona and the heating and acceleration of the solar wind into the inner heliosphere. In particular, using distant background sources to transilluminate the foreground corona and solar wind, a variety of radio propagation phenomena can be used to map plasma properties as a function of solar elongation and position angle throughout the solar cycle. These include angular broadening, interplanetary scintillations, and differential Faraday rotation, which can be used to map the solar wind velocity, determine properties of solar wind turbulence, and constrain the solar wind magnetic field. These observations will provide a global characterization of the solar wind that will be highly complementary to in situ observations made by various spacecraft. In addition, such observations can be used to probe disturbances in the solar wind -- coronal mass ejections, for example -- that may impact the near-Earth environment.

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Magnetic Reconnection Null Points as the Origin of Semi-relativistic Electron Beams in a Solar Jet

Magnetic reconnection, the central engine that powers explosive phenomena throughout the Universe, is also perceived as one of the principal mechanisms for accelerating particles to high energies. Although various signatures of magnetic reconnection have been frequently reported, observational evidence that links particle acceleration directly to the reconnection site has been rare, especially for space plasma environments currently inaccessible to $\textit{in situ}$ measurements. Here we utilize broadband radio dynamic imaging spectroscopy available from the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array to observe decimetric type III radio bursts in a solar jet with high angular ($\sim$20$''$), spectral ($\sim$1 %), and temporal resolution (50 milliseconds). These observations allow us to derive detailed trajectories of semi-relativistic (tens of keV) electron beams in the low solar corona with unprecedentedly high angular precision ($<0''.65$). We found that each group of electron beams, which corresponds to a cluster of type III bursts with 1-2-second duration, diverges from an extremely compact region ($\sim$600 km$^2$) in the low solar corona. The beam-diverging sites are located behind the erupting jet spire and above the closed arcades, coinciding with the presumed location of magnetic reconnection in the jet eruption picture supported by extreme ultraviolet/X-ray data and magnetic modeling. We interpret each beam-diverging site as a reconnection null point where multitudes of magnetic flux tubes join and reconnect. Our data suggest that the null points likely consist of a high level of density inhomogeneities possibly down to 10-km scales. These results, at least in the present case, strongly favor a reconnection-driven electron acceleration scenario.

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Radio Emission from the Exoplanetary System $ε$ Eridani

As part of a wider search for radio emission from nearby systems known or suspected to contain extrasolar planets $ε$ Eridani was observed by the Jansky Very Large Array (VLA) in the 2-4 GHz and 4-8 GHz frequency bands. In addition, as part of a separate survey of thermal emission from solar-like stars, $ε$ Eri was observed in the 8-12 GHz and the 12-18 GHz bands of the VLA. Quasi-steady continuum radio emission from $ε$ Eri was detected in the three high-frequency bands at levels ranging from 67-83 $μ$Jy. No significant variability is seen in the quasi-steady emission. The emission in the 2-4 GHz emission, however, is shown to be the result of a circularly polarized (up to 50\%) radio pulse or flare of a few minutes duration that occurred at the beginning of the observation. We consider the astrometric position of the radio source in each frequency band relative to the expected position of the K2V star and the purported planet. The quasi-steady radio emission at frequencies $\ge \!8$ GHz is consistent with a stellar origin. The quality of the 4-8 GHz astrometry provides no meaningful constraint on the origin of the emission. The location of the 2-4 GHz radio pulse is $>2.5σ$ from the star yet, based on the ephemeris of Benedict et al. (2006), it is not consistent with the expected location of the planet either. If the radio pulse has a planetary origin, then either the planetary ephemeris is incorrect or the emission originates from another planet.

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A First Comparison of Millimeter Continuum and Mg II Ultraviolet Line Emission from the Solar Chromosphere

We present joint observations of the Sun by the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) and the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS). The observations were made of a solar active region on 2015 December 18 as part of the ALMA science verification effort. A map of the Sun's continuum emission of size $2.4' \times 2.3'$ was obtained by ALMA at a wavelength of 1.25 mm (239 GHz) using mosaicing techniques. A contemporaneous map of size $1.9'\times 2.9'$ was obtained in the Mg II h doublet line at 2803.5Å by IRIS. Both mm/submm$-λ$ continuum emission and ultraviolet (UV) line emission are believed to originate from the solar chromosphere and both have the potential to serve as powerful and complementary diagnostics of physical conditions in this poorly understood layer of the solar atmosphere. While a clear correlation between mm-$λ$ brightness temperature $T_B$ and the Mg II h line radiation temperature $T_{rad}$ is observed the slope is $<1$, perhaps as a result of the fact that these diagnostics are sensitive to different parts of the chromosphere and/or the Mg II h line source function includes a scattering component. There is a significant offset between the mean $T_B$(1.25 mm) and mean $T_{rad}$(Mg II), the former being $\approx 35\%$ greater than the latter. Partitioning the maps into "sunspot", "quiet regions", and "plage regions" we find that the slope of the scatter plots between the IRIS Mg II h line $T_{rad}$ and the ALMA brightness temperature $T_B$ is 0.4 (sunspot), 0.56 (quiet regions), and 0.66 (plage regions). We suggest that this change may be caused by the regional dependence of the formation heights of the IRIS and ALMA diagnostics, and/or the increased degree of coupling between the UV source function and the local gas temperature in the hotter, denser gas in plage regions.

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Center-to-limb observations of the Sun with ALMA

We measured the center-to-limb variation of the brightness temperature, $T_b$, from ALMA full-disk images at two frequencies and inverted the solution of the transfer equation to obtain the electron temperature, $T_e$ as a function of optical depth, $τ$. The ALMA images are very similar to AIA images at 1600Å. The brightness temperature at the center of the disk is 6180 and 7250 K at 239 and 100 GHz respectively, with dispersions of 100 and 170 K. Plage regions stand out clearly in the 239/100 GHz intensity ratio, while faculae and filament lanes do not. The solar disk radius, reduced to 1 AU, is $961.1\pm2.5$ arcsec and $964.1\pm4.5$ arcsec at 239 and 100 GHz respectively. A slight but statistically significant limb brightening is observed at both frequencies. The inversion of the center-to-limb curves shows that $T_e$ varies linearly with the logarithm of optical depth for $0.34<τ_{100\,GHz}<12$, with a slope $d\ln T_e/dτ=-608$ K. Our results are 5% lower than predicted by the average quiet sun model C of Fontenla et al. (1993), but do not confirm previous reports that the mm-$λ$ solar spectrum is better fitted with models of the cell interior.

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Observing the Sun with the Atacama Large Millimeter-submillimeter Array (ALMA): Fast-Scan Single-Dish Mapping

The Atacama Large Millimeter-submillimeter Array (ALMA) radio telescope has commenced science observations of the Sun starting in late 2016. Since the Sun is much larger than the field of view of individual ALMA dishes, the ALMA interferometer is unable to measure the background level of solar emission when observing the solar disk. The absolute temperature scale is a critical measurement for much of ALMA solar science, including the understanding of energy transfer through the solar atmosphere, the properties of prominences, and the study of shock heating in the chromosphere. In order to provide an absolute temperature scale, ALMA solar observing will take advantage of the remarkable fast-scanning capabilities of the ALMA 12m dishes to make single-dish maps of the full Sun. This article reports on the results of an extensive commissioning effort to optimize the mapping procedure, and it describes the nature of the resulting data. Amplitude calibration is discussed in detail: a path that utilizes the two loads in the ALMA calibration system as well as sky measurements is described and applied to commissioning data. Inspection of a large number of single-dish datasets shows significant variation in the resulting temperatures, and based on the temperature distributions we derive quiet-Sun values at disk center of 7300 K at lambda=3 mm and 5900 K at lambda=1.3 mm. These values have statistical uncertainties of order 100 K, but systematic uncertainties in the temperature scale that may be significantly larger. Example images are presented from two periods with very different levels of solar activity. At a resolution of order 25 arcsec, the 1.3 mm wavelength images show temperatures on the disk that vary over about a 2000 K range.

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First ALMA Observation of a Solar Plasmoid Ejection from an X-ray Bright Point

Eruptive phenomena such as plasmoid ejections or jets are an important feature of solar activity with the potential for improving our understanding of the dynamics of the solar atmosphere. Such ejections are often thought to be signatures of the outflows expected in regions of fast magnetic reconnection. The 304 A EUV line of Helium, formed at around 10^5 K, is found to be a reliable tracer of such phenomena, but the determination of physical parameters from such observations is not straightforward. We have observed a plasmoid ejection from an X-ray bright point simultaneously at millimeter wavelengths with ALMA, at EUV wavelengths with AIA, in soft X-rays with Hinode/XRT. This paper reports the physical parameters of the plasmoid obtained by combining the radio, EUV and X-ray data. As a result, we conclude that the plasmoid can consist either of (approximately) isothermal 10^5 K plasma that is optically thin at 100 GHz, or else a 10^4 K core with a hot envelope. The analysis demonstrates the value of the additional temperature and density constraints that ALMA provides, and future science observations with ALMA will be able to match the spatial resolution of space-borne and other high-resolution telescopes.

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Observing the Sun with Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA): High Resolution Interferometric Imaging

Observations of the Sun at millimeter and submillimeter wavelengths offer a unique probe into the structure, dynamics, and heating of the chromosphere; the structure of sunspots; the formation and eruption of prominences and filaments; and energetic phenomena such as jets and flares. High-resolution observations of the Sun at millimeter and submillimeter wavelengths are challenging due to the intense, extended, low- contrast, and dynamic nature of emission from the quiet Sun, and the extremely intense and variable nature of emissions associated with energetic phenomena. The Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) was designed with solar observations in mind. The requirements for solar observations are significantly different from observations of sidereal sources and special measures are necessary to successfully carry out this type of observations. We describe the commissioning efforts that enable the use of two frequency bands, the 3 mm band (Band 3) and the 1.25 mm band (Band 6), for continuum interferometric-imaging observations of the Sun with ALMA. Examples of high-resolution synthesized images obtained using the newly commissioned modes during the solar commissioning campaign held in December 2015 are presented. Although only 30 of the eventual 66 ALMA antennas were used for the campaign, the solar images synthesized from the ALMA commissioning data reveal new features of the solar atmosphere that demonstrate the potential power of ALMA solar observations. The ongoing expansion of ALMA and solar-commissioning efforts will continue to enable new and unique solar observing capabilities.

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Broadband Quasi-Periodic Radio and X-ray Pulsations in a Solar Flare

We describe microwave and hard X-ray observations of strong quasiperiodic pulsations from the GOES X1.3 solar flare on 15 June 2003. The radio observations were made jointly by the Owens Valley Solar Array (OVSA), the Nobeyama Polarimeter (NoRP), and the Nobeyama Radioheliograph (NoRH). Hard X-ray observations were made by the Ramaty High Energy Solar Spectroscopic Imager (RHESSI). Using Fourier analysis, we study the frequency- and energy-dependent oscillation periods, differential phase, and modulation amplitudes of the radio and X-ray pulsations. Focusing on the more complete radio observations, we also examine the modulation of the degree of circular polarization and of the radio spectral index. The observed properties of the oscillations are compared with those derived from two simple models for the radio emission. In particular, we explicitly fit the observed modulation amplitude data to the two competing models. The first model considers the effects of MHD oscillations on the radio emission. The second model considers the quasi-periodic injection of fast electrons. We demonstrate that quasiperiodic acceleration and injection of fast electrons is the more likely cause of the quasiperiodic oscillations observed in the radio and hard X-ray emission, which has important implications for particle acceleration and transport in the flaring sources.

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