Relation between electric current densities and X-ray emissions from particles accelerated during solar flares
Résumé
The energy released during solar flares is believed to be stored in non-potential magnetic fields associated with electric currents. This energy is partially transferred to particle acceleration. We studied for several X-class flares located near the solar disk center the relation between the location of the X-ray emissions produced by energetic electrons accelerated in the corona and the magnetic field and vertical component of the electric current density in the photosphere. The study is based on X-ray images with data from the Reuven Ramaty High Energy Solar Spectroscopic Imager (RHESSI) and magnetic field maps and current density maps calculated with the UNNOFIT inversion and Metcalf disambiguation codes from the spectropolarimetric measurements of the Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager (HMI) on the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO). A comparison between X-ray and Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV) images from the SDO Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) complete the study. We shall present preliminary conclusions on the link between particle acceleration and the presence of electric currents in the active region.