Physics – Plasma Physics
Scientific paper
Dec 2011
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2011agufmsh33d..08g&link_type=abstract
American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2011, abstract #SH33D-08
Physics
Plasma Physics
[2114] Interplanetary Physics / Energetic Particles, [7514] Solar Physics, Astrophysics, And Astronomy / Energetic Particles, [7519] Solar Physics, Astrophysics, And Astronomy / Flares, [7807] Space Plasma Physics / Charged Particle Motion And Acceleration
Scientific paper
We discuss basic physics of the transport of solar-energetic particles (SEP) in interplanetary space with particular attention focused on SEPs associated with impulsive solar flares. These SEP events are especially interesting to study because they are thought to come from very compact sources on the Sun. They are also uniquely identified in 1 AU observations by the unusually large 3He to 4He ratio. The particles are accelerated rapidly and injected into the solar system over a very short time scale. Thus, the resulting time-intensity profiles seen by spacecraft widely separated in space provide important constraints on the transport of charged particles in the interplanetary magnetic field. Of particular interest are recent observations of SEP events seen by both STEREO -- A and B -- and ACE spacecraft during a time when the three spacecraft were separated by over 130 degrees in longitude. This is surprising because past studies have shown flares that produce impulsive SEP events at 1 AU are usually confined to a small part of the Sun -- that which is magnetically well connected to the Earth. We will show, however, that the observed large longitudinal spread is consistent with expectations from a relatively simple model of SEP transport in interplanetary space which includes physically reasonable amount of cross-field diffusion. The key point is that the particles take time to arrive at 1 AU and during their transport, they follow relatively closely to magnetic field lines that are rooted into the Sun which rotates through about 15 degrees of longitude per day. As we will discuss, the multi-spacecraft observations provide important constraints on the transport parameters. In addition, we will also review this general topic briefly since this is a long-studied problem.
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