Abstract

The solar flare of July 23rd, 2002 was the first gamma-ray flare to be observed in high resolution by the Reuven Ramaty High Energy Solar Spectroscopic Imager (RHESSI). The observations showed unexpectedly high redshifts in the gamma-rays detected, but with no ?apparent pattern'. The shifts appear to be intrinsic as they occur along a direct line of sight and not perpendicular to the solar surface as expected by Doppler effects. This paper looks at the wavelengths of the observed photons and, in particular, the shift in each wavelength suffered by the six nuclear de-excitation lines of ¹²C, ⁵⁶Fe, ²⁴Mg, ²⁰Ne, ¹⁶O, ²⁶Si. What is found is that the data falls into two distinct sets. Each set has the shift in wavelength delta lambda directly proportional to the wavelength lambda as predicted by ?New Tired Light (NTL)'. It is proposed that Si and Fe are at different levels in the solar atmosphere than the others and so photons from these interactions travel shorter distances through the solar plasma and thus undergo smaller redshifts. There also appears to be a quantisation in the shifts of the lines with five of the six lines showing shifts in wavelengths in multiples of 2.0x10^-16 m. These results are an anomaly in the mainstream ?expansion' theories of redshift but are consistent with the NTL theory. Here, collision cross-sections (and hence shifts in wavelength) are proportional to the wavelength of the photon and redshifts are caused by discrete shifts in wavelength when photons interact with electrons in the plasma through which they travel. That is, as the photons escape the solar plasma they undergo one, two, three, four (and so on) interactions where they experience a shift in wavelength of 2.0x10^-16 m each time. Importantly, line widths also provide direct evidence for NTL which predicts that the line widths should experience a statistical broadening that increases as Sqrt(N) - where N is the number of interactions suffered by the photons. For large shifts in wavelength the data shows a linear relation between FWHM (Full line Width at Half Maximum) and Sqrt(N) as predicted by NTL where mainstream theories predict no variation. These results are compared to the measurements of the solar flare of October 2003 and are in good agreement.