The secondary spectral component of solar microwave bursts

Microwave observations in the range 1 to 18 GHz with high spectral resolution (40 frequencies) have shown that many events display a complex microwave spectrum. From a set of 14 events with two or more spectral components, we find that two different classes of complex events can be distinguished. The first group (4 events) is characterized by a different temporal evolution of the spectral components, resulting in a change of the spectral shape. These events probably can be explained by gyrosynchrotron emission from two or more individual sources. The second class (10 events) has a constant spectral shape, so that the two spectral components vary together in intensity. For all ten events in this second class, the ratio of primary to secondary peak frequencies is remarkably similar, exhibiting an average value of 3.4, and both components show a common circular polarization. These properties suggest either a common source for the different spectral components or several sources which are closely coupled. An additional example of this class of burst was observed interferometrically to provide spatial resolution. This event suggests that the primary and secondary components have a similar location, but that the surface area of the secondary component is larger.