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Chromospheric evaporation flows and density changes deduced from Hinode/EIS during an M1.6 flare

We analyzed high-cadence sit-and-stare observations acquired with the Hinode/EIS spectrometer and HXR measurements acquired with RHESSI during an M-class flare. During the flare impulsive phase, we observe no significant flows in the cooler Fe XIII line but strong upflows, up to 80-150 km/s, in the hotter Fe XVI line. The largest Doppler shifts observed in the Fe XVI line were co-temporal with the sharp intensity peak. The electron density obtained from a Fe XIII line pair ratio exhibited fast increase (within two minutes) from the pre-flare level of 5.01x10^(9) cm^(-3) to 3.16x10^(10) cm^(-3) during the flare peak. The nonthermal energy flux density deposited from the coronal acceleration site to the lower atmospheric layers during the flare peak was found to be 1.34x10^(10) erg/s/cm^(2) for a low-energy cut-off that was estimated to be 16 keV. During the decline flare phase, we found a secondary intensity and density peak of lower amplitude that was preceded by upflows of 15 km/s that were detected in both lines. The flare was also accompanied by a filament eruption that was partly captured by the EIS observations. We derived Doppler velocities of 250-300 km/s for the upflowing filament material.The spectroscopic results for the flare peak are consistent with the scenario of explosive chromospheric evaporation, although a comparatively low value of the nonthermal energy flux density was determined for this phase of the flare. This outcome is discussed in the context of recent hydrodynamic simulations. It provides observational evidence that the response of the atmospheric plasma strongly depends on the properties of the electron beams responsible for the heating, in particular the steepness of the energy distribution.