Gottfried Mann Submitted: 17-Aug-2005 02:11
RHESSI has observed emission from the quiet (i.e non-flaring) sun, which suggest the presence of a high-temperature component of the coronal plasma. However, in-situ measurements of the solar wind have shown that electron distribution functions are usually not Maxwellian ones but have an enhanced supra-thermal tail. These distributions can be described with a kappa function. We are planning to use RHESSI HXR spectra to determine if such distributions also exist in the low corona. This is very important for flare acceleration mechanisms, since a kappa distribution provides an already enhanced initial reservoir of high-energy particles, which helps to solve the injection problem.
Participants: Gottfried Mann, Alexander Warmuth
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