Transients in an Ionized Medium with Applications to Bursts of Solar Noise

Abstract

Exact solutions of a number of transient problems on linear propagation in a homogeneous ionized medium without magnetic field are given. The Fourier transforms of the solutions are discussed and their importance in this type of work emphasized. The effect of inhomogeneity of the medium is studied, and it is shown that if a localized disturbance takes place in the solar atmosphere at a level at which the collision frequency is v and the frequency of plasma oscillations is w,, radiation will be emitted on all frequencies greater than a, with intensity determined by the nature of the disturbance and with damping determined by v. There is a small difference between the times of arrival on different frequencies, and on each frequency there is a direct wave and an echo wave which arrives some seconds !star. Many of the phenomena of bursts of solar noise are consistent with these predictions.