High resolution soft x-ray spectroscopy and the quest for the hot (5-10 MK) plasma in solar active regions


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Authors
Andretta, V 
Cargill, PJ 
Corso, AJ 
Daw, AN 
Abstract

We discuss the diagnostics available to study the 5-10 MK plasma in the solar corona, which is key to understanding the heating in the cores of solar active regions. We present several simulated spectra, and show that excellent diagnostics are available in the soft X-rays, around 100 Angstroms, as six ionisation stages of Fe can simultaneously be observed, and electron densities derived, within a narrow spectral region. As this spectral range is almost unexplored, we present an analysis of available and simulated spectra, to compare the hot emission with the cooler component. We adopt recently designed multilayers to present estimates of count rates in the hot lines, with a baseline spectrometer design. Excellent count rates are found, opening up the exciting opportunity to obtain high-resolution spectroscopy of hot plasma.

Description
Keywords
sun-active regions, sun-atmosphere, X-ray, spectroscopy, coronal heating
Journal Title
Frontiers in Astronomy and Space Sciences
Conference Name
Journal ISSN
2296-987X
2296-987X
Volume Title
8
Publisher
Frontiers Media SA
Sponsorship
Science and Technology Facilities Council (ST/P000665/1)
STFC (ST/T000481/1)