skip to main content
US FlagAn official website of the United States government
dot gov icon
Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.
https lock icon
Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( lock ) or https:// means you've safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Explore Research Products in the PAR
It may take a few hours for recently added research products to appear in PAR search results.


Title: Multispecies Energetic Particle Acceleration Associated with CIR and ICME-driven Shocks
Abstract A multispecies energetic particle intensity enhancement event at 1 au is analyzed. We identify this event as a corotating interaction region (CIR) structure that includes a stream interface (SI), a forward-reverse shock pair, and an embedded heliospheric current sheet (HCS). The distinct feature of this CIR event is that (1) the high-energy (>1 MeV) ions show significant flux enhancement at the reverse wave (RW)/shock of the CIR structure, following their passage through the SI and HCS. The flux amplification appears to depend on the energy per nucleon. (2) Electrons in the energy range of 40.5–520 keV are accelerated immediately after passing through the SI and HCS regions, and the flux quickly reaches a peak for low-energy electrons. At the RW, only high-energy electrons (∼520 keV) show significant local flux enhancement. The CIR structure is followed by a fast-forward perpendicular shock driven by a coronal mass ejection (CME), and we observed a significant flux enhancement of low-energy protons and high-energy electrons. Specifically, the 210–330 keV proton and 180–520 keV electron fluxes are enhanced by approximately 2 orders of magnitude. This suggests that the later ICME-driven shock may accelerate particles out of the suprathermal pool. In this paper, we further present that for CIR-accelerated particles, the increase in turbulence power at SI and RWs may be an important factor for the observed flux enhancement in different species. The presence of ion-scale waves near the RW, as indicated by the spectral bump near the proton gyrofrequency, suggests that the resonant wave–particle interaction may act as an efficient energy transferrer between energetic protons and ion-scale waves.  more » « less
Award ID(s):
2148653
PAR ID:
10573699
Author(s) / Creator(s):
; ; ; ; ; ; ; ;
Publisher / Repository:
The Astrophysical Journal
Date Published:
Journal Name:
The Astrophysical Journal
Volume:
972
Issue:
2
ISSN:
0004-637X
Page Range / eLocation ID:
168
Format(s):
Medium: X
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
More Like this
  1. ; (, Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics)
    Abstract Dispersionless injection, involving sudden, simultaneous flux enhancements of energetic particles over a broad range of energy, is a characteristic signature of the particles that are experiencing a significant acceleration and/or rapid inward transport process. To provide clues to the physical processes that lead to the acceleration and transport of energetic ions in the dispersionless injection region, we conduct superposed epoch analyses of 75 dispersionless injection events identified by Van Allen Probes with focus on the species‐ and azimuthal angle‐ (φ) dependent signatures of ∼50–600 keV ions inside geosynchronous orbit. Our analysis shows that, on average, the light (hydrogen and helium) ion fluxes undergo a rapid, transient enhancement, while the heavy (oxygen) ion fluxes exhibit a more gradual, persisting enhancement. Such a species‐dependent behavior could be explained in terms of different gyro‐radius of the ion species. For events where the proton injection onset is 30–60 s earlier than the electron one, proton fluxes initially increase at smallφvalues (i.e., tailward guiding centers) and then at largerφvalues (earthward ones). The initial signatures suggest a result of the earthward transport of injected protons, as seen at the explosive growth phase. For events where both electron and proton fluxes increase simultaneously, on the other hand, proton fluxes isotropically increase with no significantφdependence. Such an isotropic proton flux enhancement may imply a local process in which charged protons are rapidly accelerated to higher energies at the spacecraft location. 
    more » « less
  2. ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; et al (, The Astrophysical Journal Letters)
    Abstract We report observations of direct evidence of energetic protons being accelerated above ∼400 keV within the reconnection exhaust of a heliospheric current sheet (HCS) crossing by NASA’s Parker Solar Probe (PSP) at a distance of ∼16.25 solar radii (Rs) from the Sun. Inside the exhaust, both the reconnection-generated plasma jet and the accelerated protons up to ∼400 keV propagated toward the Sun, unambiguously establishing their origin from HCS reconnection sites located antisunward of PSP. Within the core of the exhaust, PSP detected stably trapped energetic protons up to ∼400 keV, which is ≈1000 times greater than the available magnetic energy per particle. The differential energy spectrum of the accelerated protons behaved as a pure power law with spectral index of ∼−5. Supporting simulations using thekglobalmodel suggest that the trapping and acceleration of protons up to ∼400 keV in the reconnection exhaust are likely facilitated by merging magnetic islands with a guide field between ∼0.2 and 0.3 of the reconnecting magnetic field, consistent with the observations. These new results, enabled by PSP’s proximity to the Sun, demonstrate that magnetic reconnection in the HCS is a significant new source of energetic particles in the near-Sun solar wind. Our findings of in situ particle acceleration via magnetic reconnection at the HCS provide valuable insights into this fundamental process, which frequently converts the large magnetic field energy density in the near-Sun plasma environment and may be responsible for heating the Sun’s atmosphere, accelerating the solar wind, and energizing charged particles to extremely high energies in solar flares. 
    more » « less
  3. ; ; ; ; ; (, The Astrophysical Journal)
    Abstract The acceleration of charged particles by interplanetary shocks (IPs) can drain a nonnegligible fraction of the plasma pressure. In this study, we have selected 17 IPs observed in situ at 1 au by the Advanced Composition Explorer and the Wind spacecraft, and 1 shock at 0.8 au observed by Parker Solar Probe. We have calculated the time-dependent partial pressure of suprathermal and energetic particles (smaller and greater than 50 keV for protons and 30 keV for electrons, respectively) in both the upstream and downstream regions. The particle fluxes were averaged for 1 hr before and 1 hr after the shock time to remove short timescale effects. Using the MHD Rankine–Hugoniot jump conditions, we find that the fraction of the total upstream energy flux transferred to suprathermal and energetic downstream particles is typically ≲16%, in agreement with previous observations and simulations. Notably, by accounting for errors on all measured shock parameters, we have found that for any given fast magnetosonic Mach number,Mf< 7, the angle between the shock normal and average upstream magnetic field,θBn, is not correlated with the energetic particle pressure; in particular, the partial pressure of energized particles does not decrease forθBn≳ 45°. The downstream electron-to-proton energy ratio in the range ≳ 140 eV for electrons and ≳ 70 keV for protons exceeds the expected ∼1% and nears equipartition (>0.1) for the Wind events. 
    more » « less
  4. ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; et al (, The Astrophysical Journal)
    Abstract In this paper we examine a low-energy solar energetic particle (SEP) event observed by IS⊙IS’s Energetic Particle Instrument-Low (EPI-Lo) inside 0.18 au on 2020 September 30. This small SEP event has a very interesting time profile and ion composition. Our results show that the maximum energy and peak in intensity are observed mainly along the open radial magnetic field. The event shows velocity dispersion, and strong particle anisotropies are observed throughout the event, showing that more particles are streaming outward from the Sun. We do not see a shock in the in situ plasma or magnetic field data throughout the event. Heavy ions, such as O and Fe, were detected in addition to protons and 4He, but without significant enhancements in 3He or energetic electrons. Our analysis shows that this event is associated with a slow streamer blowout coronal mass ejection (SBO-CME), and the signatures of this small CME event are consistent with those typical of larger CME events. The time–intensity profile of this event shows that the Parker Solar Probe encountered the western flank of the SBO-CME. The anisotropic and dispersive nature of this event in a shockless local plasma gives indications that these particles are most likely accelerated remotely near the Sun by a weak shock or compression wave ahead of the SBO-CME. This event may represent direct observations of the source of the low-energy SEP seed particle population. 
    more » « less
  5. ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; (, Solar Physics)
    Abstract We report on the 2024 September 9 sustained gamma-ray emission (SGRE) event observed by the Large Area Telescope (LAT) on board the Fermi satellite. The hevent was associated with a backside solar eruption observed by multiple spacecraft such as the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO), Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory (STEREO), Parker Solar Probe (PSP), Solar Orbiter (SolO), Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO), Wind, and GOES, and by ground-based radio telescopes. Fermi/LAT observed the SGRE after the EUV wave from the backside eruption crossed the limb to the frontside of the Sun. SolO’s Spectrometer Telescope for Imaging X-rays (STIX) imaged an intense (X3.3) flare, which occurred ≈ 41° behind the east limb, from heliographic coordinates S13E131. Forward modeling of the coronal mass ejection (CME) flux rope revealed that it impulsively accelerated (3.54 km s−2) to attain a peak speed of 2162 km s−1. SolO’s energetic particle detectors (EPD) observed protons up to ≈ 1 GeV from the extended shock and electrons that produced a complex type II burst and possibly type III bursts. The durations of SGRE and type II burst are consistent with the linear relation between these quantities obtained from longer duration (> 3 hours) SGRE events. All these observations are consistent with an extended shock surrounding the CME flux rope, which is the likely source of high-energy protons required for the SGRE event. We compare this event with six other behind-the-limb (BTL) SGRE eruptions and find that they are all consistent with energetic shock-driving CMEs. We also find a significant east-west asymmetry (3:1) in the BTL source locations. 
    more » « less
  • Citation Formats
  • MLA
  • APA
  • Chicago
  • BibTeX
  • Save / Share this Record
  • Send to Email