Soft X-ray Spectral Diagnostics of Multi-thermal Plasma in Solar Flares with Chandrayaan-2 XSM
N. P. S. Mithun, Santosh V. Vadawale, Giulio Del Zanna, Yamini K. Rao, Bhuwan Joshi, Aveek Sarkar, Biswajit Mondal, P. Janardhan, Anil Bhardwaj, Helen E. Mason
Spectroscopic observations in X-ray wavelengths provide excellent diagnostics of the temperature distribution in solar flare plasma. The Solar X-ray Monitor (XSM) onboard the Chandrayaan-2 mission provides broad-band disk integrated soft X-ray solar spectral measurements in the energy range of 1-15 keV with high spectral resolution and time cadence. In this study, we analyse X-ray spectra of three representative GOES C-class flares obtained with the XSM to investigate the evolution of various plasma parameters during the course of the flares. Using the soft X-ray spectra consisting of the continuum and well-resolved line complexes of major elements like Mg, Si, and Fe, we investigate the validity of the isothermal and multi-thermal assumptions on the high temperature components of the flaring plasma. We show that the soft X-ray spectra during the impulsive phase of the high intensity flares are inconsistent with isothermal models and are best fitted with double peaked differential emission measure distributions where the temperature of the hotter component rises faster than that of the cooler component. The two distinct temperature components observed in DEM models during the impulsive phase of the flares suggest the presence of the directly heated plasma in the corona and evaporated plasma from the chromospheric footpoints. We also find that the abundances of low FIP elements Mg, Si, and Fe reduces from near coronal to near photospheric values during the rising phase of the flare and recovers back to coronal values during decay phase, which is also consistent with the chromospheric evaporation scenario.
Solar flares, with energies ranging over several orders of magnitude, result from impulsive release of energy due to magnetic reconnection in the corona. Barring a handful, almost all microflares observed in X-rays are associated with the solar active regions. Here we present, for the first time, a comprehensive analysis of a large sample of quiet Sun microflares observed in soft X-rays by the Solar X-ray Monitor (XSM) on board the Chandrayaan-2 mission during the 2019-20 solar minimum. A total of 98 microflares having peak flux below GOES A-level were observed by the XSM during observations s…
Solar X-ray Monitor (XSM) is one of the scientific instruments on-board Chandrayaan-2 orbiter. The XSM along with instrument CLASS (Chandras Large Area Soft x-ray Spectrometer) comprise the remote X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy experiment of Chandrayaan-2 mission with an objective to determine the elemental composition of the lunar surface on a global scale. XSM instrument will measure the solar X-rays in the energy range of 1-15 keV using state-of-the-art Silicon Drift Detector (SDD). The Flight Model (FM) of the XSM payload has been designed, realized and characterized for various operating…
Elements with low First Ionization Potential (FIP) are known to be three to four times more abundant in active region loops of the solar corona than in the photosphere. There have been observations suggesting that this observed "FIP bias" may be different in other parts of the solar corona and such observations are thus important in understanding the underlying mechanism. The Solar X-ray Monitor (XSM) on board the Chandrayaan-2 mission carried out spectroscopic observations of the Sun in soft X-rays during the 2019-20 solar minimum, considered to be the quietest solar minimum of the past centu…
The Solar X-ray Monitor (abbreviated as XSM) on board India's Chandrayaan-2 mission is designed to carry out broadband spectroscopy of the Sun from lunar orbit. It observes the Sun as a star and measures the spectrum every second in the soft X-ray band of 1 - 15 keV with an energy resolution better than 180 eV at 5.9 keV. The primary objective of the XSM is to provide the incident solar spectrum for the X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy experiment on the Chandrayaan-2 orbiter, which aims to generate elemental abundance maps of the lunar surface. However, observations with the XSM can independent…
Chandrayaan-2, the second Indian mission to the Moon, carries a spectrometer called the Solar X-ray Monitor (XSM) to perform soft X-ray spectral measurements of the Sun while a companion payload measures the fluorescence emission from the Moon. Together these two payloads will provide quantitative estimates of elemental abundances on the lunar surface. XSM is also expected to provide significant contributions to the solar X-ray studies with its highest time cadence and energy resolution spectral measurements. For this purpose, the XSM employs a Silicon Drift Detector and carries out energy mea…
Solar X-ray Monitor (XSM) instrument of India's Chandrayaan-2 lunar mission carries out broadband spectroscopy of the Sun in soft X-rays. XSM, with its unique features such as low background, high time cadence, and high spectral resolution, provides the opportunity to characterize transient and quiescent X-ray emission from the Sun even during low activity periods. It records the X-ray spectrum at one-second cadence, and the data recorded on-board are downloaded at regular intervals along with that of other payloads. During ground pre-processing, the XSM data is segregated, and the level-0 dat…
The Solar X-ray Spectrometer (XSM) payload onboard Chandrayaan-2 provides disk-integrated solar spectra in the 1-15 keV energy range with an energy resolution of 180 eV (at 5.9 keV) and a cadence of 1~second. During the period from September 2019 to May 2020, covering the minimum of Solar Cycle 24, it observed nine B-class flares ranging from B1.3 to B4.5. Using time-resolved spectroscopic analysis during these flares, we examined the evolution of temperature, emission measure, and absolute elemental abundances of four elements -- Mg, Al, Si, and S. These are the first measurements of absolute…
Cross-Calibration of Chandrayaan-2 XSM with INSPIRESat-1 DAXSS and GOES-16 XRS
Physical Research Laboratory（物理研究实验室）；Space Applications Centre, Indian Space Research Organisation（印度空间研究组织空间应用中心）；Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, University of Colorado Boulder（科罗拉多大学博尔德分校大气与空间物理实验室）；Space Sciences Laboratory, University of California Berkeley（加州大学伯克利分校空间科学实验室）；Southwest Research Institute（西南研究所）；Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, University of Colorado Boulder（科罗拉多大学博尔德分校环境科学研究合作学院）；NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information（美国国家海洋和大气管理局国家环境信息中心）
Elemental Composition Evolution during the 2024 September 30 Solar Eruption: A Comparison of Hot and Cool Plasma Components with Solar Orbiter/SPICE, Hinode/EIS, and Chandrayaan-2/XSM
Southwest Research Institute（西南研究所）；Ann and H.J. Smead Aerospace Engineering Sciences, University of Colorado Boulder（科罗拉多大学博尔德分校安与H.J.斯梅德航空航天工程科学系）；Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, University of Colorado Boulder（科罗拉多大学博尔德分校大气与空间物理实验室）；University of Alabama in Huntsville（阿拉巴马大学亨茨维尔分校）；NASA Marshall Space Flight Center（美国国家航空航天局马歇尔太空飞行中心）
We have reviewed the first year of observations of the Solar X-ray Monitor (XSM) onboard Chandrayaan-2, and the available multi-wavelength observations to complement the XSM data, focusing on Solar Dynamics Observatory AIA and Hinode XRT, EIS observations. XSM has provided disk-integrated solar spectra in the 1--15 keV energy range, observing a large number of microflares. We present an analysis of multi-wavelength observations of AR 12759 during its disk crossing. We use a new radiometric calibration of EIS to find that the quiescent AR core emission during its disk crossing has a distributio…
Limits on the axion-photon coupling from Chandrayaan-2 observations
Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science（印度科学文化研究所）；Physical Research Laboratory（物理研究实验室）；Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur（坎普尔印度理工学院）；Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Bhopal（博帕尔印度科学与教育研究院）
We analyzed ground-based low frequency ($<$100\,MHz) radio spectral and imaging data of the solar corona obtained with the facilities in the Gauribidanur observatory during the same time as the very weak soft X-ray flares (sub A-class, flux $\rm {<}10^{-7}\,Wm^{-2}$ in the 1\,-\,8\,$\rm Å$ wavelength range) from the `quiet' Sun observed with the X-ray Solar Monitor (XSM) onboard Chandrayaan-2 during the recent solar minimum. Non-thermal type I radio burst activity were noticed in close temporal association with the X-ray events. The estimated brightness temperature ($T_{b}$) of the bursts at a…
Small-scale impulsive events, known as nanoflares, are thought to be one of the prime candidates that can keep the solar corona hot at its multi-million Kelvin temperature. Individual nanoflares are difficult to detect with the current generation instruments; however, their presence can be inferred through indirect techniques such as a Differential Emission Measure (DEM) analysis. Here we employ this technique to investigate the possibility of nanoflare heating of the quiet corona during the minimum of solar cycle 24. During this minimum, active regions (ARs) were absent on the solar-disk for …
