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Coronal Elemental Abundance: New Results from Soft X-Ray Spectroscopy of the Sun

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Abstract

Elemental abundances in the solar corona are known to be different from those observed in the solar photosphere. The ratio of coronal to photospheric abundance shows a dependence on the first ionization potential (FIP) of the element. We estimate FIP bias from direct measurements of elemental abundances from soft X-ray spectra using data from multiple space missions covering a range of solar activity levels. This comprehensive analysis shows clear evidence for a decrease in FIP bias around the maximum intensity of the X-ray flare with coronal abundances briefly tending to photospheric values and a slow recovery as the flare decays. The departure from coronal abundances are larger for the low FIP elements Ca, Fe and Si than for S which have a mid FIP value. These changes in the degree of fractionation might provide inputs to model wave propagation through the chromosphere during flares.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Brian Dennis, Richard Schwartz, Kim Tolbert at GSFC and Vinay Kashyap at CFA for useful discussions under the Indo-US Science and Technology Forum. We extend our gratitude to IUSSTF grant JC-24-2015 for funding this research. We also very much appreciate the comments and suggestions from the anonymous reviewer that has helped us improve the paper.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Space Astronomy Group, U R Rao Satellite Centre, ISRO, Bengaluru, India

    Shyama Narendranath, Netra S. Pillai & K Sankarasubramanian

  2. Indian Space Research Organisation HQ, Bengaluru, India

    P. Sreekumar

  3. Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway

    Singam Panini

  4. Division of Geophysics and Astronomy, Department of Physics, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland

    Juhani Huovelin

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  1. Shyama Narendranath
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  2. P. Sreekumar
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  3. Netra S. Pillai
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  5. K Sankarasubramanian
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Correspondence to Shyama Narendranath.

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Narendranath, S., Sreekumar, P., Pillai, N.S. et al. Coronal Elemental Abundance: New Results from Soft X-Ray Spectroscopy of the Sun. Sol Phys 295, 175 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11207-020-01738-5

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