Abstract Details

Name: Ayan Biswas
Affiliation: National Centre for Radio Astrophysics
Conference ID: ASI2021_241
Title : Understanding Solar WINQSEs
Authors and Co-Authors : Author: Ayan Biswas, NCRA-TIFR, Co-Author: Divya Oberoi, NCRA-TIFR, Co-Author: Surajit Mondal, NCRA-TIFR.
Abstract Type : Poster
Abstract Category : Sun and the Solar System
Abstract : The outermost layer of the solar atmosphere, the Corona, has a temperature of about a million K. In contrast, the photosphere, which is the lowest layer of the solar atmosphere, is only at 5800 K. The origin of this high temperature in the corona has been a mystery for decades, and is referred to as the ‘Coronal Heating Problem’. One possible mechanism of generation and transportation of heat is provided by the ‘Nanoflare hypothesis’. According to this hypothesis, numerous small flares of energies ~10^24 ergs are happening throughout the corona all the time due to small scale magnetic reconnections and collectively maintain its million degree temperature. These magnetic reconnections are expected to produce non-thermal electrons which in turn can produce coherent plasma emissions that can be detected in the radio band. Mondal et. al. (2020), reported the first detection of such emissions from the quiet sun using the MWA (Murchison Widefield Array). These emissions, now termed as WINQSEs (Weak Impulsive Narrowband Quiet Sun Emissions), were found to be ubiquitous in the quiet solar corona and their statistical properties satisfy the necessary conditions for them to be the radio counterparts of the hypothesised “nanoflares” and hence might be an important clue for understanding coronal heating. It is hence important to verify if these events are indeed present in different solar conditions, and how their statistical characteristics change with time. Here we present the study of nanoflare events during a period of extremely low solar activity and some improvements on the original analysis. We find many similarities and also some interesting differences from the original results, indicating a time variable statistical nature of WINQSEs.