Astronomy & Astrophysics (A&A) is an international journal which publishes papers on all aspects of astronomy and astrophysics

In this paper, we report our multiwavelength observations of the C4.2 circular-ribbon flare in active region (AR) 12434 on 2015 October 16. The short-lived flare was associated with positive magnetic polarities and a negative polarity inside, as revealed by the photospheric line-of-sight magnetograms. Such a magnetic pattern is strongly indicative of a magnetic null point and spine-fan configuration in the corona. The flare was triggered by the eruption of a mini-filament residing in the AR, which produced the inner flare ribbon (IFR) and the southern part of a closed circular flare ribbon (CFR). When the eruptive filament reached the null point, it triggered null point magnetic reconnection with the ambient open field and generated the bright CFR and a blowout jet. Raster observations of the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph show plasma upflow at speeds of 35–120 km s⁻¹ in the Fe xxi λ1354.09 line ( ) and downflow at speeds of 10–60 km s⁻¹ in the Si iv λ1393.77 line ( ) at certain locations of the CFR and IFR during the impulsive phase of the flare, indicating explosive chromospheric evaporation. Coincidence of the single hard X-ray source at 12–25 keV with the IFR and calculation based on the thick-target model suggest that the explosive evaporation was most probably driven by nonthermal electrons.

Coronal loops exist ubiquitously in the solar atmosphere. These loops puzzle astronomers over half a century. Solar magneto-seismology (SMS) provides a unique way to constrain the physical parameters of coronal loops. Here, we study the evolution of oscillations of a coronal loop observed by the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA). We measure geometric and physical parameters of the loop oscillations. In particular, we find that the mean period of the oscillations increased from 1048 to 1264 s during three oscillatory cycles. We employ the differential emission measure method and apply the tools of SMS. The evolution of densities inside and outside the loop is analyzed. We found that an increase of density inside the loop and decrease of the magnetic field strength along the loop are the main reasons for the increase in the period during the oscillations. Besides, we also found that the amplitude profile of the loop is different from a profile would it be a homogeneous loop. It is proposed that the distribution of magnetic strength along the loop rather than density stratification is responsible for this deviation. The variation in period and distribution of amplitude provide, in terms of SMS, a new and unprecedented insight into coronal loop diagnostics.

Quasi-periodic pulsations (QPPs), which usually appear as temporal pulsations of the total flux, are frequently detected in the light curves of solar/stellar flares. In this study, we present the investigation of nonstationary QPPs with multiple periods during the impulsive phase of a powerful flare on 2017 September 6, which were simultaneously measured by the Hard X-ray Modulation Telescope (Insight-HXMT), as well as the ground-based BLENSW. The multiple periods, detected by applying a wavelet transform and Lomb–Scargle periodogram to the detrended light curves, are found to be ∼20–55 s in the Lyα and mid-ultraviolet Balmer continuum emissions during the flare impulsive phase. Similar QPPs with multiple periods are also found in the hard X-ray emission and low-frequency radio emission. Our observations suggest that the flare QPPs could be related to nonthermal electrons accelerated by the repeated energy release process, i.e., triggering of repetitive magnetic reconnection, while the multiple periods might be modulated by the sausage oscillation of hot plasma loops. For the multiperiodic pulsations, other generation mechanisms could not be completely ruled out.

We present a detailed investigation of the Doppler shift oscillations in a hot loop during an M7.1 flare on 2014 October 27 observed by the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph. The periodic oscillations are observed in the Doppler shift of Fe xxi 1354.09 Å (log T ∼ 7.05 ), and the dominant period is about 3.1 minutes. However, such 3.1 minute oscillations are not found in the line-integrated intensity of Fe xxi 1354.09 Å, AIA EUV fluxes, or microwave emissions. Solar Dynamics Observatory/AIA and Hinode/XRT imaging observations indicate that the Doppler shift oscillations locate at the hot loop-top region (≥11 MK). Moreover, the differential emission measure results show that the temperature is increasing rapidly when the Doppler shift oscillates, but the number density does not exhibit the corresponding increases nor oscillations, implying that the flare loop is likely to oscillate in an incompressible mode. All of these facts suggest that the Doppler shift oscillations at the shorter period are most likely the standing kink oscillations in a flare loop. Meanwhile, a longer period of about 10 minutes is identified in the time series of Doppler shift and line-integrated intensity, GOES SXR fluxes, and AIA EUV light curves, indicating the periodic energy release in this flare, which may be caused by a slow mode wave.