Electron Acceleration and Plasma Heating in an Impulsive Confined C-class Solar Flare
A detailed analysis of the impulsive C2.8 solar flare SOL2023-03-19T02:12 is presented, focusing on the microwave (MW) and X-ray domains. The flare was selected because of its impulsive nature, the relatively simple magnetic morphology of its parent active region (AR) NOAA 13256, its confined evolution, its moderate intensity, pronounced non-stationary temporal behaviour, and the availability of a unique multi-wavelength dataset. This dataset includes MW spectral observations in the frequency range 2.8-12 GHz obtained with the new Solar Radio Spectropolarimeter (SOLARSPEL), together with MW images from the Siberian Radioheliograph (SRH). The flare was also observed by two imaging X-ray telescopes, Solar Orbiter/STIX and ASO-S/HXI. Nonlinear force-free field extrapolations are used to reconstruct the three-dimensional magnetic configuration of the AR. We present evidence for a direct coupling between the thermal plasma and the non-thermal electron population in the frame of collisionless plasma during the initial flare stage. Some simple relationships about electron acceleration process are presented and discussed. Analysis of the extrapolated magnetic field indicates that the flare onset was associated with a system of low-lying sheared magnetic loops located along the polarity inversion line (PIL). Given the confined nature of the event and the reconstructed magnetic configuration, we infer that magnetic reconnection most likely occurred within current sheets possessing a substantial guide-field component. The observed non-stationary QPPs in the non-thermal emission, with periods decreasing from approximately 15 to 9 s, are interpreted as signatures of a sequence of magnetic reconnection episodes occurring in different magnetic structures and triggered quasi-periodically by a process that remains uncertain, but which may involve propagating slow magnetoacoustic waves.