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Main Authors: Tiwari, Sanjiv K., Panesar, Navdeep K., Moore, Ronald L., Savage, Sabrina L., Winebarger, Amy R., Vigil, Genevieve D., Lorincik, Juraj, Polito, Vanessa, De Pontieu, Bart, Golub, Leon, Kobayashi, Ken, Champey, Patrick, Samra, Jenna, Rankin, Anna, Walsh, Robert W., Suarez, Crisel, Moore, Christopher S., Kobelski, Adam R., Reep, Jeffery W., Kankelborg, Charles
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2512.01140
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author Tiwari, Sanjiv K.
Panesar, Navdeep K.
Moore, Ronald L.
Savage, Sabrina L.
Winebarger, Amy R.
Vigil, Genevieve D.
Lorincik, Juraj
Polito, Vanessa
De Pontieu, Bart
Golub, Leon
Kobayashi, Ken
Champey, Patrick
Samra, Jenna
Rankin, Anna
Walsh, Robert W.
Suarez, Crisel
Moore, Christopher S.
Kobelski, Adam R.
Reep, Jeffery W.
Kankelborg, Charles
author_facet Tiwari, Sanjiv K.
Panesar, Navdeep K.
Moore, Ronald L.
Savage, Sabrina L.
Winebarger, Amy R.
Vigil, Genevieve D.
Lorincik, Juraj
Polito, Vanessa
De Pontieu, Bart
Golub, Leon
Kobayashi, Ken
Champey, Patrick
Samra, Jenna
Rankin, Anna
Walsh, Robert W.
Suarez, Crisel
Moore, Christopher S.
Kobelski, Adam R.
Reep, Jeffery W.
Kankelborg, Charles
contents On April 17, 2024, the third successful Hi-C sounding rocket flight, Hi-C Flare, recorded coronal images in Fe XXI 129 A emission from 11 MK plasma during the post-maximum phase of an M1.6-class solar flare, achieving unprecedented spatial (~300 km) and temporal (1.3 s) resolutions. The flare started at 21:55 UT, peaked at 22:08 UT, and lasted ~40 minutes. Hi-C observed for over five minutes (22:15:45 to 22:21:25), starting roughly eight minutes after flare maximum. A sudden compact bright burst - 875 +/- 25 km wide, lasting 90 +/- 1.3 s, exhibiting a proper motion of ~50 km/s, and splitting into two toward the end - occurs near the foot of some post-flare loops. Its size and brightness are reminiscent of flare-ribbon kernels during a flare's rapid rise phase, kernels marking sites of sudden heating and hot plasma upflow, making its occurrence during the late phase surprising. Such isolated brightenings in a flare's post-maximum phase are rare, and have not been previously reported. The kernel was detected in all SDO/AIA channels. Its 1600 A light curve peaked ~50 s earlier than its 131 A light curve, similar to that of flare-ribbon kernels, albeit with a smaller delay of ~25 s, during the impulsive phase of the flare. In SDO/HMI magnetograms, the kernel sits in unipolar positive magnetic flux near an embedded clump of negative flux. Although localized magnetic reconnection within the kernel (a microflare) cannot be ruled out for its cause, the observations favor the localized brightening being an isolated, exceptionally late flare-ribbon kernel, resulting from an exceptionally late burst of the flare's coronal reconnection.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2512_01140
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle A sudden fine-scale bright kernel captured by Hi-C Flare in 11 MK emission during an M1.6-class solar flare's post-maximum phase
Tiwari, Sanjiv K.
Panesar, Navdeep K.
Moore, Ronald L.
Savage, Sabrina L.
Winebarger, Amy R.
Vigil, Genevieve D.
Lorincik, Juraj
Polito, Vanessa
De Pontieu, Bart
Golub, Leon
Kobayashi, Ken
Champey, Patrick
Samra, Jenna
Rankin, Anna
Walsh, Robert W.
Suarez, Crisel
Moore, Christopher S.
Kobelski, Adam R.
Reep, Jeffery W.
Kankelborg, Charles
Solar and Stellar Astrophysics
On April 17, 2024, the third successful Hi-C sounding rocket flight, Hi-C Flare, recorded coronal images in Fe XXI 129 A emission from 11 MK plasma during the post-maximum phase of an M1.6-class solar flare, achieving unprecedented spatial (~300 km) and temporal (1.3 s) resolutions. The flare started at 21:55 UT, peaked at 22:08 UT, and lasted ~40 minutes. Hi-C observed for over five minutes (22:15:45 to 22:21:25), starting roughly eight minutes after flare maximum. A sudden compact bright burst - 875 +/- 25 km wide, lasting 90 +/- 1.3 s, exhibiting a proper motion of ~50 km/s, and splitting into two toward the end - occurs near the foot of some post-flare loops. Its size and brightness are reminiscent of flare-ribbon kernels during a flare's rapid rise phase, kernels marking sites of sudden heating and hot plasma upflow, making its occurrence during the late phase surprising. Such isolated brightenings in a flare's post-maximum phase are rare, and have not been previously reported. The kernel was detected in all SDO/AIA channels. Its 1600 A light curve peaked ~50 s earlier than its 131 A light curve, similar to that of flare-ribbon kernels, albeit with a smaller delay of ~25 s, during the impulsive phase of the flare. In SDO/HMI magnetograms, the kernel sits in unipolar positive magnetic flux near an embedded clump of negative flux. Although localized magnetic reconnection within the kernel (a microflare) cannot be ruled out for its cause, the observations favor the localized brightening being an isolated, exceptionally late flare-ribbon kernel, resulting from an exceptionally late burst of the flare's coronal reconnection.
title A sudden fine-scale bright kernel captured by Hi-C Flare in 11 MK emission during an M1.6-class solar flare's post-maximum phase
topic Solar and Stellar Astrophysics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2512.01140