The Frequency Drift and Fine Structures of Solar S-bursts in the High Frequency Band of LOFAR

Abstract

Solar S-bursts are short duration (<1 s at decameter wavelengths) radio bursts that have been observed during periods of moderate solar activity, where S stands for short. The frequency drift of S-bursts can reflect the coronal density variation and the motion state of the electron beams. In this work, we investigate the frequency drift and the fine structure of the S-bursts with the Low Frequency Array (LOFAR). We find that the average frequency drift rate of the S-bursts within 20–180 MHz could be described by df / dt  = −0.0077 f 1.59 , combined with previous results in low frequency. With the high time and frequency resolution of LOFAR, we can resolve the fine structures of the observed solar S-bursts. A fine drift variation pattern was found in the structure of S-bursts (referred to as solar Sb-bursts in this paper) during the type-III storm on 2019 April 13, in the frequency band of 120–240 MHz. The Sb-bursts have a quasiperiodic segmented pattern, and the relative flux intensity tends to be large when the frequency drift rate is relatively large. This kind of structure exists in about 20% of the solar S-burst events within the observed frequency range. We propose that the fine structure is due to the density fluctuations of the background coronal density. We performed a simulation based on this theory that can reproduce the shape and relative flux intensity of the Sb-bursts. This work shows that the fine structure of solar radio bursts can be used to diagnose the coronal plasma.