Intersunspot Microwave Sources

Abstract

We studied a number of solar active regions using two-dimensional spatially resolved microwave observations. Data from the Nobeyama Radioheliograph and the Siberian Solar Radio Telescope together with observations by the Michelson Doppler Imager (MDI) onboard the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) have allowed us to identify long-lived intersunspot sources (ISSs) in most of the investigated active regions. Their centers are often located above the line-of-sight magnetic field inversion line that separates the leading and following polarities of a full active region (first type of ISS) or above the inversion line that separates magnetic polarities inside of a complex of sunspots (second type of ISS). ISSs of the first type are extended and, in general, they are sources of bremsstrahlung emission. ISSs of the second type are compact and are, most likely, sources of gyroresonance or gyrosynchrotron emission. We propose a qualitative model involving three types of magnetic connectivity to explain how long-lasting ISSs may be generated.