X-ray line coincidence photopumping in a solar flare
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Accepted version
Published version
Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Line coincidence photopumping is a process where the electrons of an atomic or molecular species are radiatively excited through the absorption of line emission from another species at a coincident wavelength. There are many instances of line coincidence photopumping in astrophysical sources at optical and ultraviolet wavelengths, with the most famous example being Bowen fluorescence (pumping of O III 303.80 Å by He II), but none to our knowledge in X-rays. However, here we report on a scheme where a He-like line of Ne IX at 11.000 Å is photopumped by He-like Na X at 11.003 Å, which predicts significant intensity enhancement in the Ne IX 82.76 Å transition under physical conditions found in solar flare plasmas. A comparison of our theoretical models with published X-ray observations of a solar flare obtained during a rocket flight provides evidence for line enhancement, with the measured degree of enhancement being consistent with that expected from theory, a truly surprising result. Observations of this enhancement during flares on stars other than the Sun would provide a powerful new diagnostic tool for determining the sizes of flare loops in these distant, spatially unresolved, astronomical sources.
Date Issued
2017-11-23
Date Acceptance
2017-11-16
Citation
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 2017, 474 (3), pp.3782-3786
ISSN
0035-8711
Publisher
Oxford University Press (OUP)
Start Page
3782
End Page
3786
Journal / Book Title
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Volume
474
Issue
3
Copyright Statement
Copyright © 2017, Oxford University Press
Subjects
0201 Astronomical And Space Sciences
Astronomy & Astrophysics
Publication Status
Published
Date Publish Online
2017-11-23