ENERGETICS AND TIMING OF THE HARD AND SOFT-X-RAY EMISSIONS IN WHITE-LIGHT FLARES

By comparing the light curves in optical, hard x-ray, and soft x-ray wavelengths for 8 well-observed flares, we confirm previous results indicating that the white light flare (WLF) is associated with the flue impulsive phase. The WLF emission peaks within seconds after the associated hard x-ray peak, and nearly two minutes before the 1-8 angstrom soft x-ray peak. It is further shown that the peak power in nonthermal electrons above 50 keV is typically an order of magnitude larger, and the power in 1-8 angstrom soft x-rays radiated over 2pi strdn at the time of the WLF peak is an order of magnitude smaller, than the peak WLF power.