Sunquake with a second bounce, other sunquakes, and emission associated with the X9.3 flare of 6 September 2017 - II. Proposed interpretation

Zharkova, Valentina, Zharkov, Sergei, Druett, Malcolm, Matthews, Sarah and Inoue, Satoshi (2020) Sunquake with a second bounce, other sunquakes, and emission associated with the X9.3 flare of 6 September 2017 - II. Proposed interpretation. Astronomy & Astrophysics, 639. A79. ISSN 0004-6361

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Abstract

In this paper we present the interpretation of the observations of the flare from 6 September 2017 reported in Paper I. These include gamma-ray (GR), hard X-ray (HXR), soft X-rays, Lyα line, extreme ultraviolet (EUV), Hα, and white light (WL) emission, which were recorded during the two flaring events 1 (FE1) and 2 (FE2) that occurred at 11:55:37 UT (FE1) and 12:06:40 UT (FE2). Paper I also reported the first detection of the sunquake with first and second bounces of seismic waves combined with four other sunquakes in different locations supported with the observations of HXR, GR, EUV, Hα, and WL emission with strongly varying spatial resolution and temporal coverage. In the current paper, we propose some likely scenarios for heating of flaring atmospheres in the footpoints with sunquakes which were supported with EUV and Hα emission. We used a range of parameters derived from the HXR, EUV, and Hα line observations to generate hydrodynamic models, which can account for the blueshifts derived from the EUV emission and the redshifts observed with the EUV Imaging Spectrometer in the He II line and by the CRisp Imaging Spectro-Polarimeter in the Swedish Solar Telescope in Hα line emission. The parameters of hydrodynamic shocks produced by different beams in flaring atmospheres were used as the initial conditions for another type of hydrodynamic models that were developed for acoustic wave propagation in the solar interior. These models simulate the sets of acoustic waves produced in the interior by the hydrodynamic shocks from atmospheres above deposited in different footpoints of magnetic loops. The Hα line profiles with large redshifts in three kernels (two in FE1 and one in FE2) were interpreted with the full non-local thermodynamic equilibrium radiative simulations in all optically thick transitions (Lyman lines and continuum Hα, Hβ, and Pα) applied for flaring atmospheres with fast downward motions while considering thermal and non-thermal excitation and ionisation of hydrogen atoms by energetic power-law electron beams. The observed Hα line profiles in three kernels were fit with the simulate blue wing emission of the Hα line profiles shifted significantly (by 4–6 Å) towards the line red wings, because of strong downward motions with velocities about 300 km s−1 by the shocks generated in flaring atmospheres by powerful beams. The flaring atmosphere associated with the largest sunquake (seismic source 2 in FE1) is found consistent with being induced by a strong hydrodynamic shock produced by a mixed beam deposited at an angle of −30° from the local vertical. We explain the occurrence of a second bounce in the largest sunquake by a stronger momentum delivered by the shock generated in the flaring atmosphere by a mixed beam and deeper depths of the interior where this shock was deposited. Indeed, the shock with mixed beam parameters is found deposited deeply into the interior beneath the flaring atmosphere under the angle to the local vertical that would allow the acoustic waves generated in the direction closer to the surface to conserve enough energy for the second bounces from the interior layers and from the photosphere. The wave characteristics of seismic sources 1 and 3 (in FE1) were consistent with those produced by the shocks generated by similar mixed beams deposited at the angles −(0 − 10)° (seismic source 1) and +30° (seismic source 3) to the local vertical. The differences of seismic signatures produced in the flares of 6 September 2011 and 2017 are also discussed.

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