Journal
ASTROPHYSICAL JOURNAL
Volume 626, Issue 2, Pages 1102-1109Publisher
UNIV CHICAGO PRESS
DOI: 10.1086/430086
Keywords
sun : flares; sun : x-rays; gamma rays
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The determination of the low-energy cutoff to the spectrum of accelerated electrons is decisive for the estimation of the total nonthermal energy in solar flares. Because thermal bremsstrahlung dominates the low-energy part of flare X-ray spectra, this cutoff energy is difficult to determine with spectral fitting alone. We have used a new method that combines spatial, spectral, and temporal analysis to determine the cutoff energy for the M1.2 flare observed with RHESSI on 2002 April 15. A low-energy cutoff of 24 +/- 2 keV is required to ensure that the assumed thermal emissions always dominate over nonthermal emissions at low energies (< 20 keV) and that the spectral fitting results are consistent with the RHESSI light curves and images. With this cutoff energy, we obtain a total nonthermal energy in electrons of (1.6 +/- 1) x 10(30) ergs that is comparable to the peak energy in the thermal plasma, estimated from RHESSI observations to be (6 +/- 0.6) x 10(29) ergs assuming a filling factor of 1.
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