We study the energetics of nonthermal electrons produced in small acceleration episodes in the solar corona. We carried out an extensive survey spanning 2004--2015 and shortlisted 6 impulsive electron events detected at 1 AU that was not associated with large solar flares(GOES soft X-ray class > C1) or with coronal mass ejections. Each of these events had weak, but detectable hard Xray (HXR) emission near the west limb, and were associated with interplanetary type III bursts. In some respects, these events seem like weak counterparts of "cold/tenuous" flares. The energy carried by the HXR producing electron population was ≈1023 -- 1025 erg, while that in the corresponding population detected at 1 AU was ≈1024--1025 erg. The number of electrons that escape the coronal acceleration site and reach 1 AU constitute 6 % to 148 % of those that precipitate downwards to produce thick target HXR emission.
@article{arxiv.1706.04031,
title = {Small electron acceleration episodes in the solar corona},
author = {Tomin James and Prasad Subramanian and Eduard P Kontar},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1706.04031},
year = {2017}
}