On 1971 January 24 a 3B flare at 18° N., 49° W. was associated with the acceleration of protons to relativistic energies; it was one of the rare events recorded by ground-level neutron monitors. Excellent radio coverage was obtained with single-frequency radiometers in the range 1000-9400 MHz, and at Culgoora with the 8-8000 MHz spectrograph and the 80 MHz radioheliograph. At the Earth relativistic protons and electrons arrived very promptly from the flare, whose site was near the foot of the nominal interplanetary field line which connects to the Earth.

Dodson and Hedeman discovered an unexpected effect in the occurrence of solar proton events as revealed by polarcap absorption (PCA). When the 48 events in Bailey’s Catalog of the Principal PCA Events, 1952-1963 are distributed with the phase of the moon there is a gap of several days near full moon; also, many more events occur when the moon waxes than when it wanes. Dodson and Hedeman did not find similar, apparent departures from random distribution either with a mean solar rotation period of 27.3 days or for solar flare events. They concluded that ‘at the present time it is not clear whether the 29.5 day “effect” is related to the sun or the moon or is only a statistical accident’.

In this paper we summarize the results of radio studies of the distribution functions (number, energy distribution and pitch angle distribution) of the energetic particles that are produced at the time of solar flares. We consider the clues and constraints they impose on the mechanisms of acceleration, bearing in mind that radio evidence implies that there are at least two stages of acceleration in many flares.

In the following sections we discuss the distribution functions of the particles resulting from (a) first phase acceleration, (b) first and/or second phase and (c) second phase acceleration. Table I summarizes the results.

Radio pictures of the Sun from the Culgoora radioheliograph have already shown instances in which flares have initiated radio bursts in parts of the Sun remote from the flare position. In this paper we discuss two such events on 1968 May 4 and May 6, in each of which it appears that shock-waves arising from a flare produced distant prominence activity which led to the generation of metre-wave continuum radiation.

A radio-astronomical observation in its most complete form is a determination of intensity and polarization as functions of frequencyf, time t, and position in the sky. An actual observation is usually much less complete.

In this paper 80 MHz heliograph observations are described of a remarkable solar outburst on 1969 March 30 initiated by a flare on the invisible hemisphere of the Sun. The event raises several questions of theoretical interest, in particular the implication that the magnetohydrodynamic waves responsible for certain type II bursts must travel along curved paths.

(Astrophys. Letters). The measured amount of band-splitting, Δf, in the spectra of nine harmonic type II bursts is illustrated in Figure 1. Here, as in previous, smaller samples (Roberts, 1959; Maxwell and Thompson, 1962; Weiss, 1965) Δf is found to increase with frequency, f.

The characteristics of 12 moving type IV bursts observed with the 80 MHz radioheliograph at the Culgoora Observatory between February 1968 and April 1970 are summarized.

Three classes of moving sources can be recognized; they are described as: (1) Expanding arch; (2) Advancing front; (3) Isolated source.

The first class has been identified (Wild, 1969) with the expansion of a magnetic arch or loop; the second class is here identified with an advancing MHD disturbance which may accelerate the radiating electrons in situ when moving at greater than Alfvén speed; the third with solar ejecta in the form of magnetized plasma clouds, or plasmoids. In all cases the radiation mechanism is probably synchrotron radiation from mildly relativistic electrons; energies in the range ∼0.1 to ∼1 MeV could account for the observed strong circular polarizations.

With an expanding magnetic arch, source and magnetic-field movement are inseparable; the field remains a closed loop throughout the event. The MHD front probably moves largely along and the plasmoids between the open magnetic-field lines of unipolar regions or helmet structures. In the latter case it is the internal magnetic field – possibly toroidal – of the moving plasmoid that determines the polarization of the synchrotron radiation. A preliminary comparison of moving type IV sources with Newkirk-Altschuler maps of coronal magnetic fields shows suitably located closed loops for 2 events identified as expanding magnetic arches and unipolar open field lines along the path of a moving source identified as a plasmoid.

Several recent papers have dealt with observations of brightness distributions over the solar disk, which were derived either from two-aerial interferometer observations at various spacings and orientations (e.g. O'Brien, 1953) [1], or from multiple-element interferometer fan-beam observations at various orientations (e.g. Christiansen and Warburton, 1954) [2], In each a two-dimensional distribution is derived from a number of essentially one-dimensional observations by a Fourier synthesis method described by O'Brien. The detail given by these methods must be limited by the finite resolution of the individual observations (limited by the maximum aperture of the aerial system), but the form of the limitation is not obvious, though its knowledge is required when relating the observations to a solar model.