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LOFAR low band interferometric images of type III solar radio bursts during an M class flare on 7 September 2017 show distinct sources with variations in their positions and intermittent dual source structures. We identify these as fundamental and harmonic emission, with the one or other being dominant at times. The data show that transport effects due to refraction and scattering play a significant role, both in source separation and drift of their apparent positions. We present a method of automatically separating fundamental and harmonic contributions that allows for obtaining separate lightcurves. Comparing the lightcurves of fundamental and harmonic pairs, e.g. 35 MHz and 70 MHz, enables studies of radio wave propagation in the solar corona. Harmonic sources at the lowest observable frequencies are relevant for the transition into the solar wind, and for joint observing campaigns with Parker Solar Probe and Solar Orbiter that are currently investigating the inner heliosphere.

The Sun is the source of different types of radio bursts that are associated with solar flares, for example. Among the most frequently observed phenomena are type III solar bursts. Their radio images at low frequencies (below 100 MHz) are relatively poorly studied due to the limitations of legacy radio telescopes. We study the general characteristics of types IIIb and U with stria structure solar radio bursts in the frequency range of 20 - 80 MHz, in particular the source size and evolution in different altitudes, as well as the velocity and energy of electron beams responsible for their generation. In this work types IIIb and U with stria structure radio bursts are analyzed using data from the LOFAR telescope including dynamic spectra and imaging observations, as well as data taken in the X-ray range (GOES and RHESSI satellites) and in the extreme ultraviolet (SDO satellite). In this study we determined the source size limited by the actual shape of the contour at particular frequencies of type IIIb and U solar bursts in a relatively wide frequency band from 20 to 80 MHz. Two of the bursts seem to appear at roughly the same place in the studied active region and their source sizes are similar. It is different in the case of another burst, which seems to be related to another part of the magnetic field structure in this active region. The velocities of the electron beams responsible for the generation of the three bursts studied here were also found to be different., Astronomy & Astrophysics, in press; 9 pages, 6 figures

Observations made using the LOw Frequency ARray (LOFAR) between 10:15 and 11:48 UT on the 15th of September 2018 over a bandwidth of approximately 25-65 MHz contain discrete pseudo-periodic features of ionospheric origin. These features occur with a period of approximately ten minutes and collectively last roughly an hour. They are strongly frequency dependent, broadening significantly in time towards the lower frequencies, and show an overlaid pattern of diffraction fringes. By modelling the ionosphere as a thin phase screen containing a wave-like disturbance, we are able to replicate the observations, suggesting that they are associated with small-scale travelling ionospheric disturbances (TIDs). This modelling indicates that the features observed here require a compact radio source at a low elevation, and that the TID or TIDs in question have a wavelength ~30 km. Several features suggest the presence of deviations from an idealised sinusoidal wave form. These results demonstrate LOFAR's capability to identify and characterise small-scale ionospheric structures.

The Sun is an active star that often produces numerous bursts of electromagnetic radiation at radio wavelengths. Low frequency radio bursts have recently been brought back to light with the advancement of novel radio interferometers. However, their polarisation properties have not yet been explored in detail, especially with the Low Frequency Array (LOFAR), due to difficulties in calibrating the data and accounting for instrumental leakage. Here, using a unique method to correct the polarisation observations, we explore the circular polarisation of different sub-types of solar type III radio bursts and a type I noise storm observed with LOFAR, which occurred during March-April 2019. We analysed six individual radio bursts from two different dates. We present the first Stokes V low frequency images of the Sun with LOFAR in tied-array mode observations. We find that the degree of circular polarisation for each of the selected bursts increases with frequency for fundamental emission, while this trend is either not clear or absent for harmonic emission. The type III bursts studied, that are part of a long--lasting type III storm, can have different senses of circular polarisation, occur at different locations and have different propagation directions. This indicates that the type III bursts forming a classical type III storm do not necessarily have a common origin but instead they indicate the existence of multiple, possibly unrelated, acceleration processes originating from solar minimum active regions., 19 pages, 6 figures

Radio waves propagating through a medium containing irregularities in the spatial distribution of the electron density develop fluctuations in their intensities and phases. In the case of radio waves emitted from astronomical objects, they propagate through electron density irregularities in the interstellar medium, the interplanetary medium, and Earth’s ionosphere. The LOFAR radio telescope, with stations across Europe, can measure intensity across the VHF radio band and thus intensity scintillation on the signals received from compact astronomical objects. Modeling intensity scintillation allows the estimate of various parameters of the propagation medium, for example, its drift velocity and its turbulent power spectrum. However, these estimates are based on the assumptions of ergodicity of the observed intensity fluctuations and, typically, of weak scattering. A case study of single-station LOFAR observations of the strong astronomical source Cassiopeia A in the VHF range is utilized to illustrate deviations from ergodicity, as well as the presence of both weak and strong scattering. Here it is demonstrated how these aspects can lead to misleading estimates of the propagation medium properties, for example, in the solar wind. This analysis provides a method to model errors in these estimates, which can be used in the characterization of both the interplanetary medium and Earth’s ionosphere. Although the discussion is limited to the case of the interplanetary medium and Earth’s ionosphere, its ideas are also applicable to the case of the interstellar medium.

Large coronal loops around one solar radius in altitude are an important connection between the solar wind and the low solar corona. However, their plasma properties are ill-defined, as standard X-ray and UV techniques are not suited to these low-density environments. Diagnostics from type J solar radio bursts at frequencies above 10 MHz are ideally suited to understand these coronal loops. Despite this, J-bursts are less frequently studied than their type III cousins, in part because the curvature of the coronal loop makes them unsuited for using standard coronal density models. We used LOw-Frequency-ARray (LOFAR) and Parker Solar Probe (PSP) solar radio dynamic spectrum to identify 27 type III bursts and 27 J-bursts during a solar radio noise storm observed on 10 April 2019. We found that their exciter velocities were similar, implying a common acceleration region that injects electrons along open and closed magnetic structures. We describe a novel technique to estimate the density model in coronal loops from J-burst dynamic spectra, finding typical loop apex altitudes around 1.3 solar radius. At this altitude, the average scale heights were 0.36 solar radius, the average temperature was around 1 MK, the average pressure was $0.7~\text{mdyn}\,\text{cm}^{-2}$ 0.7 mdyn cm − 2 , and the average minimum magnetic field strength was 0.13 G. We discuss how these parameters compare with much smaller coronal loops.

Radio emission of the quiet Sun is considered to be due to thermal bremsstrahlung emission of the hot solar atmosphere. The properties of the quiet Sun in the microwave band have been well studied, and they can be well described by the spectrum of bremsstrahlung emission. In the meter-wave and decameter-wave bands, properties of the quiet Sun have rarely been studied due to the instrumental limitations. In this work, we use the LOw Frequency ARray (LOFAR) telescope to perform high quality interferometric imaging spectroscopy observations of quiet Sun coronal emission at frequencies below 90~MHz. We present the brightness temperature spectrum, and size of the Sun in the frequency range of 20-80~MHz. We report on dark coronal regions with low brightness temperature that persist with frequency. The brightness temperature spectrum of the quiet Sun is discussed and compared with the bremsstrahlung emission of a coronal model and previous quiet Sun observations., 20 pages

The Sun is an active star that often produces numerous bursts of electromagnetic radiation at radio wavelengths. In particular, low frequency (< 150 MHz) radio bursts have recently been brought back to light with the advancement of novel radio interferometric arrays. However, the polarisation properties of solar radio bursts have not yet been explored in detail, especially with the Low Frequency Array (LOFAR). Here, we explore the circular polarisation of type III radio bursts and a type I noise storm and present the first Stokes V low frequency radio images of the Sun with LOFAR in tied array mode observations. We find that the degree of circular polarisation for each of the selected bursts increases with frequency for fundamental plasma emission, while this trend is either not clear or absent for harmonic plasma emission. In the case of type III bursts, we also find that the sense of circular polarisation varies with each burst, most likely due to their different propagation directions, despite all of these bursts being part of a long-lasting type III storm. Furthermore, we use the degree of circular polarisation of the harmonic emission of type III bursts to estimate the coronal magnetic field at distances of 1.4 to 4 solar radii from the centre of the Sun. We found that the magnetic field has a power law variation with a power index in the range 2.4-3.6, depending on the individual type III burst observed.

PL612, one of the three Polish LOFAR stations is fully operational in the International LOFAR Telescope (ILT) since beginning of 2016. In second half of 2016 we have also started a pulsar observational projects in the local mode using the Baldy LOFAR station. In this paper we shortly describe a new project which focuses on the simultaneous observation of pulsars and the TEC parameter towards them in the sky.

We present a few examples of the type III solar radio bursts observed on 25 th August 2017 with LOFAR (LOw-Frequency Array) station in Baldy, Poland. This station recorded the solar dynamic spectra in the frequency range from 10 MHz up to 250 MHz. The time and frequency resolution of the spectra were 1 s and 0.39 MHz respectively. The preliminary analysis of these radio events indicate that observations with use of the Baldy LOFAR station, in single mode, can give a lot of interesting results.

Context. Solar radio bursts originate mainly from high energy electrons accelerated in solar eruptions like solar flares, jets, and coronal mass ejections. A sub-category of solar radio bursts with short time duration may be used as a proxy to understand wave generation and propagation within the corona. Aims. Complete case studies of the source size, position, and kinematics of short term bursts are very rare due to instrumental limitations. A comprehensive multi-frequency spectroscopic and imaging study was carried out of a clear example of a solar type IIIb-III pair. Methods. In this work, the source of the radio burst was imaged with the interferometric mode, using the remote baselines of the LOw Frequency ARray (LOFAR). A detailed analysis of the fine structures in the spectrum and of the radio source motion with imaging was conducted. Results. The study shows how the fundamental and harmonic components have a significantly different source motion. The apparent source of the fundamental emission at 26.56 MHz displaces away from the solar disk center at about four times the speed of light, while the apparent source of the harmonic emission at the same frequency shows a speed of < 0.02 c. The source size of the harmonic emission observed in this case is smaller than that in previous studies, indicating the importance of the use of remote baselines.

We hereby present the interferometric LOFAR observations made before and after the total solar eclipse on 21 August 2017, during which the type III radio bursts have been detected.The LOw-Frequency ARray (LOFAR) is a large radio interferometer operating in the frequency range of 10–240 MHz, designed and constructed by ASTRON (the Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy). The LOFAR telescope is an array of stations distributed throughout the Netherlands and other parts of Europe. Currently the system consist of 52 LOFAR stations located in Europe. Apart from the high time and frequency resolution of the dynamic spectra, LOFAR allows also a 2D imaging of the radio sources and tracking of their positions through the solar corona.In this work we present a preliminary analysis of the dynamic spectra of type III radio bursts with radio images.

Type III radio bursts are a common phenomenon the Sun’s nonthermal radio radiation. They appear as stripes of enhanced radio emission with a rapid drift from high to low frequencies in dynamic radio spectra. They are considered as the radio signatures of beams of energetic electrons travelling along magnetic field lines from the solar corona into the interplanetary space. With the ground based radio interferometer LOFAR and the instrument FIELDS onboard NASA’s “Parker Solar Probe” (PSP) , type III radio bursts can be observed simultaneously from high (10-240 MHz) to low frequencies (0.01-20 MHz) with LOFAR and PSP’s FIELDs, respectively. That allows to track these electron beams from the corona up to the interplanetary space. Assuming that a population of energetic electrons is initially injected, the velocity distribution function of these electrons evolves into a beam like one. Such distribution function leads to the excitation of Langmuir waves which convert into radio waves finally observed as type II radio bursts. Numerical calculations of the electron-beam-plasma interaction reveal that the Langmuir waves are excited by different parts of the energetic electrons at different distances in the corona and interplanetary space. This result is compared with special type III radio bursts observed with LOFAR and PSP’s FIELDS.

Solar S-bursts are short duration ($, 12 pages

This paper presents the results from one of the first observations of ionospheric scintillation taken using the Low-Frequency Array (LOFAR). The observation was of the strong natural radio source Cas A, taken overnight on 18-19 August 2013, and exhibited moderately strong scattering effects in dynamic spectra of intensity received across an observing bandwidth of 10-80MHz. Delay-Doppler spectra (the 2-D FFT of the dynamic spectrum) from the first hour of observation showed two discrete parabolic arcs, one with a steep curvature and the other shallow, which can be used to provide estimates of the distance to, and velocity of, the scattering plasma. A cross-correlation analysis of data received by the dense array of stations in the LOFAR "core" reveals two different velocities in the scintillation pattern: a primary velocity of ~30m/s with a north-west to south-east direction, associated with the steep parabolic arc and a scattering altitude in the F-region or higher, and a secondary velocity of ~110m/s with a north-east to south-west direction, associated with the shallow arc and a scattering altitude in the D-region. Geomagnetic activity was low in the mid-latitudes at the time, but a weak sub-storm at high latitudes reached its peak at the start of the observation. An analysis of Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) and ionosonde data from the time reveals a larger-scale travelling ionospheric disturbance (TID), possibly the result of the high-latitude activity, travelling in the north-west to south-east direction, and, simultaneously, a smaller--scale TID travelling in a north-east to south-west direction, which could be associated with atmospheric gravity wave activity. The LOFAR observation shows scattering from both TIDs, at different altitudes and propagating in different directions. To the best of our knowledge this is the first time that such a phenomenon has been reported., Comment: 24 pages, 16 figures. Accepted for open-access publication in the Journal of Space Weather and Space Climate. For associated movie file, see https://www.swsc-journal.org/10.1051/swsc/2020010/olm

Radio continuum emission of planetary nebulae is a rich source of information about their structure and physical parameters. Although radio emission is well studied, planetary nebulae show higher spectral indices than expected for homogeneous sphere. A few competing models exist in the literature to explain this discrepancy. We propose that it is related to non-spherical morphology of most of planetary nebulae.

PL612, one of the three Polish LOFAR stations is fully operational in the International LOFAR Telescope (ILT) since beginning of 2016. In second half of 2016 we have also started a few observational projects in the local mode using the LOFAR station in Baldy, which are shortly described hereafter.

The LOFAR (Low-Frequency Array) radio telescope is relatively new instrument, arranged as an interferometer, composed currently of 51 stations located in many parts of Europe [1]. Each station consist of up to 3264 omnidirectional dipole antennas (in full configuration) and is able to observe radio waves from the sky in range of 10–240 MHz (see Figure 1). Signals from individual dipoles, sampled with 200 MHz clock, after digitalizing process which takes place in the field generates up to 10 Gbits/s of raw data, which is served through a dedicated network for analyzer systems.

Type II radio bursts are evidence of shocks in the solar atmosphere and inner heliosphere that emit radio waves ranging from sub-meter to kilometer lengths. These shocks may be associated with CMEs and reach speeds higher than the local magnetosonic speed. Radio imaging of decameter wavelengths (20-90 MHz) is now possible with LOFAR, opening a new radio window in which to study coronal shocks that leave the inner solar corona and enter the interplanetary medium and to understand their association with CMEs. To this end, we study a coronal shock associated with a CME and type II radio burst to determine the locations at which the radio emission is generated, and we investigate the origin of the band-splitting phenomenon., Comment: 7 Figures, 9 Pages