Solar flare accelerates nearly all electrons in a large coronal volume

Solar flares, driven by prompt release of free magnetic energy in the solar corona^1,2, are known to accelerate a substantial portion (ten per cent or more)^3,4 of available electrons to high energies. Hard X-rays, produced by high-energy electrons accelerated in the flare⁵, require a high ambient density for their detection. This restricts the observed volume to denser regions that do not necessarily sample the entire volume of accelerated electrons⁶. Here we report evolving spatially resolved distributions of thermal and non-thermal electrons in a solar flare derived from microwave observations that show the true extent of the acceleration region. These distributions show a volume filled with only (or almost only) non-thermal electrons while being depleted of the thermal plasma, implying that all electrons have experienced a prominent acceleration there. This volume is isolated from a surrounding, more typical flare plasma of mainly thermal particles with a smaller proportion of non-thermal electrons. This highly efficient acceleration happens in the same volume in which the free magnetic energy is being released².