We have evaluated the energetics of 38 solar eruptive events observed by a variety of spacecraft instruments between February 2002 and December 2006, as accurately as the observations allow. The measured energetic components include: (1) the radiated energy in the GOES 1 -8Å band; (2) the total energy radiated from the soft X-ray (SXR) emitting plasma; (3) the peak energy in the SXR-emitting plasma; (4) the bolometric radiated energy over the full duration of the event; (5) the energy in flare-accelerated electrons above 20 keV and in flareaccelerated ions above 1 MeV; (6) the kinetic and potential energies of the coronal mass ejection (CME); (7) the energy in solar energetic particles (SEPs) observed in interplanetary space; and (8) the amount of free (nonpotential) magnetic energy estimated to be available in the pertinent active region. Major conclusions include: (1) the energy radiated by the SXR-emitting plasma exceeds, by about half an order of magnitude, the peak energy content of the thermal plasma that produces this radiation; (2) the energy content in flare-accelerated electrons and ions is sufficient to supply the bolometric energy radiated across all wavelengths throughout the event; (3) the energy contents of flare-accelerated electrons and ions are comparable; (4) the energy in SEPs is typically a few percent of the -2 -CME kinetic energy (measured in the rest frame of the solar wind); and (5) the available magnetic energy is sufficient to power the CME, the flare-accelerated particles, and the hot thermal plasma.Subject headings: Sun: activity -Sun: coronal mass ejections -Sun: flares -Sun: particle emission -Sun: X-rays, gamma rays * In yy/mm/dd format. * * GOES start time (UT). 1 Radiated energy in the GOES 1 -8Å band. 2 Total radiated energy from the SXR-emitting plasma. 3 Bolometric radiated energy. 4 Peak thermal energy of the SXR-emitting plasma. 5 Energy in flare-accelerated electrons. 6 Energy in flare-accelerated ions. 7 CME kinetic energy in the rest frame of the Sun. 8 CME kinetic energy in solar-wind rest frame. 9 CME gravitational potential energy. 10 Energy in SEPs. 11 Nonpotential magnetic energy in the active region.† Behind-the-limb event. ‡Bolometric irradiance directly measured with TIM -see Table 2.

Solar flares, coronal mass ejections, and indeed phenomena on all scales observed on the Sun, are inextricably linked with the Sun's magnetic field. The solar surface is covered with magnetic features observed on many spatial scales, which evolve on differing timescales: the largest features, sunspots, follow an 11-year cycle; the smallest seem to follow no cycle. Here, we analyze magnetograms from Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO)/Michelson Doppler Imager (full disk and high resolution) and Hinode/Solar Optical Telescope to determine the fluxes of all currently observable surface magnetic features. We show that by using a "clumping" algorithm, which counts a single "flux massif" as one feature, all feature fluxes, regardless of flux strength, follow the same distribution-a power law with slope −1.85 ± 0.14-between 2 × 10 17 and 10 23 Mx. A power law suggests that the mechanisms creating surface magnetic features are scale-free. This implies that either all surface magnetic features are generated by the same mechanism, or that they are dominated by surface processes (such as fragmentation, coalescence, and cancellation) in a way which leads to a scale-free distribution.

We compute the change in the Lorentz force integrated over the outer solar atmosphere implied by observed changes in vector magnetograms that occur during large, eruptive solar flares. This force perturbation should be balanced by an equal and opposite force perturbation acting on the solar photosphere and solar interior. The resulting expression for the estimated force change in the solar interior generalizes the earlier expression presented by Hudson, Fisher, and Welsch (Astron. Soc. Pac. CS-383, 221, 2008), providing horizontal as well as vertical force components, and provides a more accurate result for the vertical component of the perturbed force. We show that magnetic eruptions should result in the magnetic field at the photosphere becoming more horizontal, and hence should result in a downward (toward the solar interior) force change acting on the photosphere and solar interior, as recently argued from an analysis of magnetogram data by Wang and Liu (Astrophys. J. Lett. 716, L195, 2010). We suggest the existence of an observational relationship between the force change computed from changes in the vector magnetograms, the outward momentum carried by the ejecta from the flare, and the properties of the helioseismic disturbance driven by the downward force change. We use the impulse driven by the Lorentz-force change in the outer solar atmosphere to derive an upper limit to the mass of erupting plasma that can escape from the Sun. Finally, we compare the expected Lorentz-force change at the photosphere with simple estimates from flare-driven gasdynamic disturbances and from an estimate of the perturbed pressure from radiative backwarming of the photosphere in flaring conditions. Solar Flare Magnetic Fields and Plasmas

Recently, several methods that measure the velocity of magnetized plasma from time series of photospheric vector magnetograms have been developed. Velocity fields derived using such techniques can be used both to determine the fluxes of magnetic energy and helicity into the corona, which have important consequences for understanding solar flares, coronal mass ejections, and the solar dynamo, and to drive time-dependent numerical models of coronal magnetic fields. To date, these methods have not been rigorously tested against realistic, simulated data sets, in which the magnetic field evolution and velocities are known. Here we present the results of such tests using several velocity-inversion techniques applied to synthetic magnetogram data sets, generated from anelastic MHD simulations of the upper convection zone with the ANMHD code, in which the velocity field is fully known. Broadly speaking, the MEF, DAVE, FLCT, IM, and ILCT algorithms performed comparably in many categories. While DAVE estimated the magnitude and direction of velocities slightly more accurately than the other methods, MEF's estimates of the fluxes of magnetic energy and helicity were far more accurate than any other method's. Overall, therefore, the MEF algorithm performed best in tests using the ANMHD data set. We note that ANMHD data simulate fully relaxed convection in a high-plasma, and therefore do not realistically model photospheric evolution.

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