| Presentation Title: | Investigating Energy Release During a Quiescent Region Hard X-ray Flare Observed by RHESSI |
| Author(s): | Juliana Vievering, Angelos Vourlidas, Chunming Zhu, Jiong Qiu, Laura Balmaceda, and Lindsay Glesener |
Abstract:
Hard X-rays (HXRs) provide a key diagnostic for energy release during a solar flare, as HXRs are emitted from flare-accelerated electrons and strongly heated flare plasma. Years of observations and studies have indicated that RHESSI HXR flares, including microflares, only occur in active regions, with only one instance in the published literature of a quiescent region RHESSI HXR flare to date. Through our work studying the evolution of solar eruptive events, we have identified an additional quiescent region HXR flare observed by RHESSI on 2013 February 6, associated with a filament eruption. Here we investigate the nature of energy release for this rarely-studied type of event through timing, spectral, imaging, and energetics analyses using data from RHESSI, STEREO, and SDO. We examine “bursts” in the HXR, reconnection rate, and CME acceleration profiles, representing distinct episodes of energy release, to explore how intermittent energy release impacts the evolution of the event. Furthermore, we trace the energetics and spatial evolution of the event, discussing how this eruption compares to standard active region eruptions and the previously published quiescent region RHESSI HXR flare.