English

Herringbone structures during an X-class eruptive flare

Solar and Stellar Astrophysics 2026-02-03 v1

Abstract

In this paper, we report quasi-periodic herringbone structures during the impulsive phase of an X-class flare, coinciding with the distinct acceleration phase of eruptive prominence ejection on 2023 December 31. The prominence propagates non-radially in the southeast direction with an inclination angle of \sim35\fdg\fdg4. The fast coronal mass ejection (CME) at a speed of \sim2852 km s1^{-1} drives a shock wave and a coronal EUV wave. The herringbone structures lasting for \sim4 minutes take place at the initial stage of a group of type II radio burst. The herringbones in the frequency range 20-70 MHz are characterized by simultaneous forward-drift and reverse-drift bursts with average durations of \sim2.5 s and \sim3.1 s. The frequency drift rates of these bursts fall in a range of 1.3-9.4 MHz s1^{-1} with average values of \sim3.6 and \sim4.1 MHz s1^{-1}, respectively. The speeds of electron beams producing the herringbones are estimated to be 0.04-0.41 cc, with average values of \sim0.23 cc and \sim0.11 cc for forward-drifting and reverse-drift bursts, respectively. The heights of particle acceleration regions are estimated to be 0.64-0.78 R\sunR_{\sun} above the photosphere, which are consistent with the height of CME front (\sim0.75 R\sunR_{\sun}) when the shock forms. Quasi-periodic pulsations with periods of 17.5-21.3 s are found in the radio fluxes of herringbones, suggesting that electrons are accelerated by the CME-driven shock intermittently.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2602.01117,
  title  = {Herringbone structures during an X-class eruptive flare},
  author = {Qingmin Zhang and Zongjun Ning and Xingyao Chen and Wei Chen and Xiaoli Yan and Shuyue Li},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2602.01117},
  year   = {2026}
}

Comments

15 pages, 12 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ

R2 v1 2026-07-01T09:30:02.183Z