On the Issue of the Origin of Type II Solar Radio Bursts

Type II solar radio bursts are among the most powerful events in the solar radio emission in the meter wavelength range. It is generally accepted that the agents generating type II radio bursts are magnetohydrodynamic shock waves. But the relationship between the shock waves and the other manifestations of the large-scale disturbances in the solar atmosphere (coronal mass ejections, Morton waves, EUW waves) remains unclear. To clarify a problem, it is important to determine the conditions of generation of type II radio bursts. Here, the model of the radio source is based on the generation of radio emission within the front of the collisionless shock wave where the Buneman instability of plasma waves is developed. In the frame of this model, the Alfvén magnetic Mach number must exceed the critical value, and there is a strict restriction on the perpendicularity of the front. The model allows us to obtain the information about the parameters of the shock waves and the parameters of the medium by the parameters of type II bursts. The estimates, obtained in this paper for several events with the band splitting of the fundamental and harmonic emission bands of the type II bursts, confirm the necessary conditions of the model. In this case the registration of type II radio bursts is an indication of the propagation of shock waves in the solar atmosphere, and the absence of type II radio bursts is not an indication of the absence of shock waves. Such a situation should be taken into account when investigating the relationship between type II radio bursts and other manifestations of solar activity.