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Creators/Authors contains: "Vainio, R"

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  1. Context. On 2020 November 29, an eruptive event occurred in an active region located behind the eastern solar limb as seen from Earth. The event consisted of an M4.4 class flare, a coronal mass ejection, an extreme ultraviolet (EUV) wave, and a white-light (WL) shock wave. The eruption gave rise to the first widespread solar energetic particle (SEP) event of solar cycle 25, which was observed at four widely separated heliospheric locations (∼230°). Aims. Our aim is to better understand the source of this widespread SEP event, examine the role of the coronal shock wave in the wide distribution of SEPs, and investigate the shock wave properties at the field lines magnetically connected to the spacecraft. Methods. Using EUV and WL data, we reconstructed the global three-dimensional structure of the shock in the corona and computed its kinematics. We determined the magnetic field configurations in the corona and interplanetary space, inferred the magnetic connectivity of the spacecraft with the shock surface, and derived the evolution of the shock parameters at the connecting field lines. Results. Remote sensing observations show formation of the coronal shock wave occurring early during the eruption, and its rapid propagation to distant locations. The results of the shock wave modelling show multiple regions where a strong shock has formed and efficient particle acceleration is expected to take place. The pressure/shock wave is magnetically connected to all spacecraft locations before or during the estimated SEP release times. The release of the observed near-relativistic electrons occurs predominantly close to the time when the pressure/shock wave connects to the magnetic field lines or when the shock wave becomes supercritical, whereas the proton release is significantly delayed with respect to the time when the shock wave becomes supercritical, with the only exception being the proton release at the Parker Solar Probe. Conclusions. Our results suggest that the shock wave plays an important role in the spread of SEPs. Supercritical shock regions are connected to most of the spacecraft. The particle increase at Earth, which is barely connected to the wave, also suggests that the cross-field transport cannot be ignored. The release of energetic electrons seems to occur close to the time when the shock wave connects to, or becomes supercritical at, the field lines connecting to the spacecraft. Energetic protons are released with a time-delay relative to the time when the pressure/shock wave connects to the spacecraft locations. We attribute this delay to the time that it takes for the shock wave to accelerate protons efficiently. 
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  2. We present the first measurement of cosmic-ray fluxes of Li 6 and Li 7 isotopes in the rigidity range from 1.9 to 25 GV. The measurements are based on 9.7 × 10 5 Li 6 and 1.04 × 10 6 Li 7 nuclei collected by the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer on the International Space Station from May 2011 to October 2023. We observe that over the entire rigidity range the Li 6 and Li 7 fluxes exhibit nearly identical time variations and, above 4 GV , the time variations of Li 6 , Li 7 , He, Be, B, C, N, and O fluxes are identical. Above 7 GV , we find an identical rigidity dependence of the Li 6 and Li 7 fluxes. This shows that they are both produced by collisions of heavier cosmic-ray nuclei with the interstellar medium and, in particular, excludes the existence of a sizable primary component in the Li 7 flux. Published by the American Physical Society2025 
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    Free, publicly-accessible full text available May 1, 2026
  3. We report the properties of precision time structures of cosmic nuclei He, Li, Be, B, C, N, and O fluxes over an 11-year solar cycle from May 2011 to November 2022 in the rigidity range from 1.92 to 60.3 GV. The nuclei fluxes show similar but not identical time variations with amplitudes decreasing with increasing rigidity. In particular, below 3.64 GV the Li, Be, and B fluxes, and below 2.15 GV the C, N, and O fluxes, are significantly less affected by solar modulation than the He flux. We observe that these differences in solar modulation are linearly correlated with the differences in the spectral indices of the cosmic nuclei fluxes. This shows, in a model-independent way, that solar modulation of galactic cosmic nuclei depends on their spectral shape. In addition, solar modulation differences due to nuclei velocity dependence on the mass-to-charge ratio ( A / Z ) are not observed. Published by the American Physical Society2025 
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    Free, publicly-accessible full text available February 1, 2026
  4. Precision measurements by the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS) on the International Space Station of the deuteron ( D ) flux are presented. The measurements are based on 21 × 10 6 D nuclei in the rigidity range from 1.9 to 21 GV collected from May 2011 to April 2021. We observe that over the entire rigidity range the D flux exhibits nearly identical time variations with the p , He 3 , and He 4 fluxes. Above 4.5 GV, the D / He 4 flux ratio is time independent and its rigidity dependence is well described by a single power law R Δ with Δ D / He 4 = 0.108 ± 0.005 . This is in contrast with the He 3 / He 4 flux ratio for which we find Δ He 3 / He 4 = 0.289 ± 0.003 . Above 13 GV we find a nearly identical rigidity dependence of the D and p fluxes with a D / p flux ratio of 0.027 ± 0.001 . These unexpected observations indicate that cosmic deuterons have a sizable primarylike component. With a method independent of cosmic ray propagation, we obtain the primary component of the D flux equal to 9.4 ± 0.5 % of the He 4 flux and the secondary component of the D flux equal to 58 ± 5 % of the He 3 flux. Published by the American Physical Society2024 
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  5. null (Ed.)
    The magnetometer instrument on the Solar Orbiter mission is designed to measure the magnetic field local to the spacecraft continuously for the entire mission duration. The need to characterise not only the background magnetic field but also its variations on scales from far above to well below the proton gyroscale result in challenging requirements on stability, precision, and noise, as well as magnetic and operational limitations on both the spacecraft and other instruments. The challenging vibration and thermal environment has led to significant development of the mechanical sensor design. The overall instrument design, performance, data products, and operational strategy are described. 
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