| In this work, we investigate solar flare energetics and the role of accelerated electrons and protons in the flare process. From solar observations using the balloon-borne High Resolution Gamma-ray and Hard X-ray Spectrometer (HIREGS), we obtain limits on hard X-ray and nuclear line emission (in particular, the 2.223-MeV deuterium line) from which we calculate limits on the total energy contained in flare-accelerated electrons and protons. These limits are consistent with the energy estimated to be in small flares, and also do not exclude the possibility that flares provide enough energy to heat the active-region corona. From HIREGS quiet-Sun 2.223-MeV limits, we find that during solar quiet times between flares, protons do not contain enough energy to heat the active-region corona, even if their spectrum extends down to ;Using the BATSE instrument on the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory (CGRO), we describe the detection of many nonthermal 8-13 keV solar X-ray bursts, which, when added to the previously known distribution of ;Finally, we describe the combined soft and hard X-ray observations of a single solar event, consistent in many respects with a flare scenario in which accelerated electrons are injected into a coronal magnetic loop and propagate along its length producing impulsive hard X-ray bursts as they deposit their energy in the ambient thermal plasma, which subsequently produces transient soft X-ray emission. |
