Microwave and Millimeter Wave Circuits and Systems: Emerging Design, Technologies and Applications, 2nd Edition

13

MIOS: Millimeter Wave Radiometers for the Space-Based Observation of the Sun

Federico Alimenti¹, Andrea Battistini¹, Valeria Palazzari¹, Luca Roselli¹ and Stephen M. White²

¹Department of Electronic and Information Engineering, University of Perugia, Perugia, Italy,

²Department of Astronomy, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA

13.1 Introduction

A millimeter-wave observation of solar flares directly from outside the Earth's atmosphere (i.e., space-based) has never been attempted yet. Nonetheless, this methodology could open several interesting perspectives. First, the Sun could be studied with high time-on-target, high temporal resolution, and good sensitivity. As a consequence, a large sample of millimeter flare could be obtained. These data, equivalent to several years of equivalent observations from ground-based radiotelescopes, could be used in order to address several outstanding scientific questions regarding particle acceleration and transport in the solar corona. Is there more than one population of accelerated electrons, implying two acceleration mechanisms? What is the energy spectrum of the highest energy electrons? Are there very short (subsecond) pulses of acceleration? Second, the same methodology could also be used to study the relationship between solar flares and coronal mass ejections, the latter having effects on space weather, near-Earth conditions, and telecommunications.

This chapter will explore the above possibility by proposing a feasibility ...