J/ApJS/120/409 The SMM Atlas of Gamma-Ray flares (Vestrand+, 1999)
The Solar Maximum Mission Atlas of Gamma-Ray Flares
Vestrand W. T., Share G. H., Murphy R. J., Forrest D. J.,
Rieger E., Chupp E. L., Kanbach G.
<Astrophys. J. Suppl. Ser. 120, 409 (1999)>
=1999ApJS..120..409V 1999ApJS..120..409V
ADC_Keywords: Atlases; Gamma rays; Solar system
Mission_Name: SMM
Keywords: catalogs - gamma rays: bursts - Sun: flares
Abstract:
We present a compilation of data for all 258 gamma-ray flares detected
above 300 keV by the Gamma Ray Spectrometer (GRS) aboard the Solar
Maximum Mission satellite. This gamma-ray flare sample was collected
during the period from 1980 February to 1989 November; covering the
latter half of the 21st solar sunspot cycle and the onset of the 22d
solar sunspot cycle. We describe the SMM/GRS instrument, its in-orbit
operation, and the principal data reduction methods used to derive the
gamma-ray flare properties. Utilizing measurements for 185 flares that
were sufficiently intense to allow the derivation of gamma-ray
spectra, we present an atlas of time profiles and gamma-ray spectra.
The flare parameters derived from the gamma-ray spectra include
bremsstrahlung fluence and best-fit power-law parameters, narrow
nuclear line fluence, positron annihilation line fluence, neutron
capture line fluence, and an indication of whether or not emissions
greater than 10 MeV were present. Since a uniform methodology was
adopted for deriving the parameters, this atlas should be very useful
for future statistical and correlative studies of solar flares.
File Summary:
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FileName Lrecl Records Explanations
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ReadMe 80 . This file
table1.dat 134 258 Compilation of data for gamma-ray flares
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Byte-by-byte Description of file: table1.dat
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Bytes Format Units Label Explanations
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1- 4 I4 yr Flare.Y Date of gamma-ray flare occurrence (year)
6- 8 A3 "month" Flare.M Date of gamma-ray flare occurrence (month)
10- 11 I2 d Flare.D Date of gamma-ray flare occurrence (day)
13- 14 I2 h Flare.h Date of gamma-ray flare occurrence (hour)
15 A1 --- --- [:]
16- 17 I2 min Flare.m Date of gamma-ray flare occurrence (minute)
18 A1 --- --- [:]
19- 20 I2 s Flare.s Date of gamma-ray flare occurrence (second)
22- 25 I4 s Durat ? Flare Duration
27- 32 A6 --- Pos Position of associated Hα flare
34- 40 A7 --- Prop Properties (1)
42- 44 I3 deg Vangle ? Heliocentric viewing angle for the flare
46- 50 F5.2 cm-2.s-1 Amp ? Amplitude of bremstahlung power-law
measured at 0.3 MeV (photons.cm-2.s-1)
53- 56 F4.2 cm-2.s-1 e_Amp ? errors of the Amplitude
59- 64 F6.2 --- Index ? Index of the best fit power-law
67- 71 F5.2 --- e_Index ? errors of the index
73- 79 F7.1 cm-2 Tbrem ? Total bremsstrahlung fluence between
0.3-8.5 MeV (photons.cm-2)
81- 85 F5.1 cm-2 e_Tbrem ? errors of the bremsstrahlung fluence
87- 92 F6.1 cm-2 Tnuc ? Total narrow nuclear line fluence
(photons.cm-2) (2)
94- 98 F5.1 cm-2 e_Tnuc ? errors of the nuclear fluence
100-104 F5.1 cm-2.s-1 Posit ? Fluence of the 0.511 MeV line
(photons.cm-2.s-1) (3)
106-110 F5.1 cm-2.s-1 e_Posit ? errors of the positron fluence
112-117 F6.1 cm-2 Ncap ? Fluence of the 2.23 MeV line
(photons.cm-2.s-1) (4)
119-123 F5.1 cm-2 e_Ncap ? errors in the 2.23 MeV line
125-135 A11 --- Code Event code (5)
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Note (1): GOES X-ray class and Hα properties as reported in the
NOAA Solar-Geophysical Data reports
Note (2): Employing a template derived from observations of the 1981
April 27 flare
Note (3): Value is based on the best fit of a single Gaussian line with
a width fixed at the instrumental energy resolution and centered at
511 keV. The values listed here were derived by fitting over the
restricted 0.30.75 MeV energy band.
Note (4): The value is based on the best fit of a single Gaussian line
centered at 2.223 MeV that has a width fixed at the norminal energy
resolution for that energy. The delayed nature of this emission means
the fluence will be underestimated for events that are truncated by
Earth occultation or missing data
Note (5):
1 = events that are missing late data
2 = events that are missing early data
3 = events that were detected at energies greater than 10 MeV
4 = an event where narrow nuclear line fluence is better estimated
by the sum, given in Table 2, of individual line fits instead of
the standard template (see Murphy & Share, 1995ApJ...452..933S 1995ApJ...452..933S)
5 = events that are missing data due to detector saturation
6 = events that are missing data in the middle of the event
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History:
From ApJ electronic edition
(End) Greg Schwarz (AAS) 26-Jan-2000