Spectroscopic analysis of a super-hot giant flare observed on Algol by BeppoSAX on 30 August 1997

We present an X-ray observation of the eclipsing binary Algol, obtained wit h the BeppoSAX observatory. During the observation a huge flare was observe d, exceptional both in duration as well as in peak plasma temperature and t otal energy release. The wide spectral response of the different BeppoSAX i nstruments, together with the long decay time scale of the hare, allowed us to perform a detailed time-resolved X-ray spectroscopic analysis of the fl are. We derive the physical parameters of the emitting region together with the plasma density applying different methods to the observed flare decay. The X-ray emission from the flare is totally eclipsed during the secondary optical eclipse, so that the size of the emitting region is strongly const rained (as described in a companion paper) on purely geometrical arguments. The size of the flare thus derived is much smaller than the size derived f rom the analysis of the evolution of the spectral parameters using the quas i-static cooling formalism, showing that the time evolution of the flare is determined essentially from the temporal profile of the heating, with the intrinsic decay of the flaring loop having little relevance. The analysis o f the decay with the technique recently developed for solar flares by Reale et al. (1997) on the other hand is in much better agreement with the eclip se-derived constraints. The very high signal-to-noise of the individual spectra strongly constrains some of the derived physical parameters. In particular, very significant e vidence for a three-fold increase in coronal abundance and for a large incr ease in absorbing column density during the initial phases of the flare evo lution is present.