Article,
What are the Sources of Solar Energetic Particles? Element Abundances and Source Plasma Temperatures
(Oct 12, 2015)
DOI: 10.1007/s11214-015-0210-7
Abstract
We have spent 50 years in heated discussion over which populations of solar
energetic particles (SEPs) are accelerated at flares and which by shock waves
driven out from the Sun by coronal mass ejections (CMEs). The association of
the large "gradual" SEP events with shock acceleration is supported by the
extensive spatial distribution of SEPs and by the delayed acceleration of the
particles. The relative abundances of the elements in these gradual events are
a measure of those in the ambient solar corona, differing from those in the
photosphere by a widely-observed function of the first ionization potential
(FIP) of the elements. SEP events we call "impulsive", the traditional
"3He-rich" events with enhanced heavy-element abundances, are associated with
type III radio bursts, flares, and narrow CMEs; they selectively populate flux
tubes that thread a localized source, and they are fit to new particle-in-cell
models of magnetic reconnection on open field lines as found in solar jets.
These models help explain the strong enhancements seen in heavy elements as a
power (of 2 - 8) in the mass-to-charge ratio A/Q throughout the periodic table
from He to Pb. A study of the temperature dependence of A/Q shows that the
source plasma in impulsive SEP events must lie in the range of 2-4 MK to
explain the pattern of abundances. This is much lower than the temperatures of
>10 MK seen on closed loops in solar flares. Recent studies of A/Q-dependent
enhancements or suppressions from scattering during transport show source
plasma temperatures in gradual SEP events to be 0.8-1.6 MK in 69\% of the
events, i.e. coronal plasma; 24\% of the events show reaccelerated
impulsive-event material.
