Particle Acceleration and Kinematics in Solar Flares

This book presents a synthesis of what we learned about particle acceleration and kinematics from recent solar flare observations with the Yohkoh, SoHO, TRACE, CGRO spacecraft and radio instruments over the last decade. It deals with the topology of magnetic reconnection regions, discusses the geometry, small-scale dynamics, and electromagnetic fields of acceleration region in solar flares, provides a systematic description of the relativistic kinematics of particle acceleration, propagation, time-of-flight measurements, particle trapping, precipitation, and the resulting emissions in gamma rays, hard X-rays, and radio wavelengths. It is the first monograph on these solar flare topics, written for the level of graduate students and researchers in the field of solar physics, astrophysics, and magnetospheric physics.