Two classes of solar energetic particle events associated with impulsive and long duration soft X-ray flares

Solar energetic particle events observed in space have different properties depending on the class of associated flare. Impulsive flares, which occur low in the corona in regions of high energy density, are associated with particle events which are deficient in protons. These events are rarely associated with coronal mass ejections and interplanetary shocks. The vast majority of large, high energy proton events are associated with long duration flares, many of which are also associated with fast coronal mass ejections and strong interplanetary shocks. Such flare events originate relatively high in the corona

The solar wind structures associated with cosmic ray decreases and particle acceleration in 1978-1982

The time histories of particles in the energy range 1 MeV to 1 GeV at times of all greater than 3 percent cosmic ray decreases in the years 1978 to 1982 are studied. Essentially all 59 of the decreases commenced at or before the passages of interplanetary shocks, the majority of which accelerated energetic particles. We use the intensity-time profiles of the energetic particles to separate the cosmic ray decreases into four classes which we subsequently associate with four types of solar wind structures. Decreases in class 1 (15 events) and class 2 (26 events) can be associated with shocks which are driven by energetic coronal mass ejections. For class 1 events the ejecta is detected at 1 AU whereas this is not the case for class 2 events. The shock must therefore play a dominant role in producing the depression of cosmic rays in class 2 events. In all class 1 and 2 events (which comprise 69 percent of the total) the departure time of the ejection from the sun (and hence the location) can be determined from the rapid onset of energetic particles several days before the shock passage at Earth. The class 1 events originate from within 50 deg of central meridian. Class 3 events (10 decreases) can be attributed to less energetic ejections which are directed towards the Earth. In these events the ejecta is more important than the shock in causing a depression in the cosmic ray intensity. The remaining events (14 percent of the total) can be attributed to corotating streams which have ejecta material embedded in them

Variations in elemental composition of several MEV/nucleon ions observed in interplanetary space

Six years of accumulated ISEE-3 and IMP-8 data to study variations in elemental relative abundances among the different populations of energetic ions seen in interplanetary space are surveyed. Evidence suggesting that heavy ion enrichments may be organized by a rigidity scaling factor A/Z over the range H to Fe is presented. Data to support the hypothesis that shock-associated particles are probably accelerated from ambient energetic fluxes are shown

The heavy ion composition in 3HE-rich solar flares

The 3He-rich flares show a tendency to be enriched in heavy ions, and that this enrichment covers the charge range through Fe. The discovery of this association was responsible, in part, for the discarding of 3He enrichment models which involved spallation or thermonuclear reactions, since such models were unable to produce heavy nuclei enhancement. Results of a survey of heavy nucleus abundances observed in 66 3He-rich flares which occurred over the period October 1978 to June 1982 are presented

Corotating energetic particle and fast plasma streams in the inner and outer solar system: Radial dependence and energy spectra

Interplanetary acceleration processes are shown as the most plausible explanation for the observed corotating energetic particle events. The relation between the energetic particle events and the properties of the high speed solar wind streams observed at 1 AU were investigated along with the form of the energy spectrum of the corotating energetic particle streams and its variation with respect to CIR boundaries and with radial distance. It is shown that: (1) at 1 AU a correlation exists between the j particle intensity and the solar wind velocity measured during the rising part of the event, of the form I is proportional to exp (V sub sw/V sub o); and (2) the energy spectra from .5 to 20 MeV are well represented by an exponential in momentum of the form dJ/dP = C exp (-P/P sub o). This representation is found to apply from .45 AU to beyond 5 AU. The variation of P sub o with respect to the CIR boundaries was studied using a method of superposed epoch analysis. It is shown that at 1 AU the spectrum remains constant during the first two days and then progressively flattens; between 3-4AU

The radial variation of corotating energetic particle streams in the inner and outer solar system

The radial gradient of long-lived, corotating energetic particle streams was measured using observations of .9-2.2 MeV protons from Helios 1 and 2, IMP 7, Pioneer 10 and Pioneer 11. A positive gradient of approximately 350% per AU is found between .3 AU and 1 AU. Between 1 AU and some 3-5 AU, the gradient is variable with an average value of 100% per AU which is consistent with earlier statistical results. A comparison between measurements at 9 AU and approximately 4 AU shows a negative gradient which is variable from -40 to -100% per AU. Possible solar latitudinal effects on these gradient studies are also discussed. Using solar wind and magnetic field data from Helios 1 between 1 AU and .3 AU, the relation between corotating energetic particle events in the inner solar system and the interplanetary medium is examined. It is found that the energetic particles are contained inside the high speed solar wind stream in a region adjacent to the interaction region between low speed and high speed streams

The large scale dynamics of the outer heliosphere and the long-term modulation of galactic cosmic rays

The network of cosmic ray observatories reaching across the heliosphere has given new insight into the process of solar modulation, establishing that the decreases occur principally in the outer heliosphere and are produced by interplanetary flow systems; that the hysteresis effects appear to be produced by changes in the rigidity dependence of the diffusion coefficient and that the predicted effects on the cosmic ray gradients associated with the reversal of the solar magnetic field polarity are not observed

Fast drift kilometric radio bursts and solar proton events

Initial results of a comparative study of major fast drift kilometric bursts and solar proton events from Sep. 1978 to Feb. 1983 are presented. It was found that only about half of all intense, long duration ( 40 min above 500 sfu) 1 MHz bursts can be associated with F 20 MeV proton events. However, for the subset of such fast drift bursts accompanied by metric Type 2 and/or 4 activity (approximately 40% of the total), the degree of association with 20 MeV events is 80%. For the reverse association, it was found that proton events with J( 20 MeV) 0.01 1 pr cm(-2)s(-1)sr(-1)MeV(-1) were typically (approximately 80% of the time) preceded by intense 1 MHz bursts that exceeded the 500 sfu level for times 20 min (median duration approximately 35 min)

Observations and Interpretations of Energetic Neutral Hydrogen Atoms from the December 5, 2006 Solar Event

We discuss recently reported observations of energetic neutral hydrogen atoms (ENAs) from an X9 solar flare/coronal mass ejection event on 5 December 2006, located at E79. The observations were made by the Low Energy Telescopes (LETs) on STEREO A and B. Prior to the arrival of the main solar energetic particle (SEP) event at Earth, both LETs observed a sudden burst of 1.6 to 15 MeV energetic neutral hydrogen atoms produced by either flare or shock-accelerated protons. RHESSI measurements of the 2.2-MeV gamma-ray line provide an estimate of the number of interacting flare-accelerated protons in this event, which leads to an improved estimate of ENA production by flare-accelerated protons. Taking into account ENA losses, we find that the observed ENAs must have been produced in the high corona at heliocentric distances > or equal to 2 solar radii. Although there are no CME images from this event, it is shown that CME-shock-accelerated protons can, in principle, produce a time-history consistent with the observations