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Register a new userRecurring 3He-rich Solar Energetic Particle Events
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Using the SIT instrument aboard STEREO we have examined the abundance of the 3He during the ascending phase of solar cycle 24 from January 2010 through December 2012. We report on several cases when 3He-rich solar energetic particle events were successively observed on ACE and STEREO-A with delays consistent with the Carrington rotation rate. In the investigated period ACE and STEREO-A were significantly separated in the heliolongitude corresponding to solar rotation times of 5 to 10 days. We inspect STEREO-A EUV images and use the potential-field source-surface extrapolations together with in-situ magnetic field data to identify responsible solar sources. We find the 3He/4He ratio highly variable in these events and correlated between the spacecraft for the cases with the same connection region on the Sun.
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Small 3He-rich solar energetic particle (SEP) events with their anomalous abundances, markedly different from solar system, provide evidence for a unique acceleration mechanism that operates routinely near solar active regions. Although the events are sometimes accompanied by coronal mass ejections (CMEs) it is believed that mass and isotopic fractionation is produced directly in the flare sites on the Sun. We report on a large-scale extreme ultraviolet (EUV) coronal wave observed in association with 3He-rich SEP events. In the two examples discussed, the observed waves were triggered by minor flares and appeared concurrently with EUV jets and type III radio bursts but without CMEs. The energy spectra from one event are consistent with so-called class-1 (characterized by power laws) while the other with class-2 (characterized by rounded 3He and Fe spectra) 3He-rich SEP events, suggesting different acceleration mechanisms in the two. The observation of EUV waves suggests that large-scale disturbances, in addition to more commonly associated jets, may be responsible for the production of 3He-rich SEP events.
Solar sources of suprathermal (<1 MeV/nucleon) 3He-rich solar energetic particles (SEPs) have been commonly associated with jets originating in small, compact active regions at the periphery of near-equatorial coronal holes. Sources of relatively rare, high-energy (>10 MeV/nucleon) 3He-rich SEPs remain unexplored. Here we present two of the most intense 3He-rich (3He/4He>1) SEP events of the current solar cycle 24 measured on the Advanced Composition Explorer at energy >10 MeV/nucleon. Although 3He shows high intensities, Z>2 ions are below the detection threshold. The events are accompanied by type-III radio bursts, but no type-II emission as typically seen for suprathermal 3He-rich SEPs. The corresponding solar sources were analyzed using high-resolution, extreme-ultraviolet imaging and photospheric magnetic field observations on the Solar Dynamics Observatory. We find the sources of these events associated with jets originating at the boundary of large sunspots with complex beta-gamma-delta magnetic configuration. Thus, details of the underlying photospheric field apparently are important to produce 3He to high energies in the examined events.
We study the origin of 3He-rich solar energetic particles (<1 MeV/nucleon) that are observed consecutively on STEREO-B, ACE, and STEREO-A spacecraft when they are separated in heliolongitude by more than 90{deg}. The 3He-rich period on STEREO-B and STEREO-A commences on 2011 July 1 and 2011 July 16, respectively. The ACE 3He-rich period consists of two sub-events starting on 2011 July 7 and 2011 July 9. We associate the STEREO-B July 1 and ACE July 7 3He-rich events with the same sizeable active region producing X-ray flares accompanied by prompt electron events, when it was near the west solar limb as seen from the respective spacecraft. The ACE July 9 and STEREO-A July 16 events were dispersionless with enormous 3He enrichment, lacking solar energetic electrons and occurring in corotating interaction regions. We associate these events with a small, recently emerged active region near the border of a low-latitude coronal hole that produced numerous jet-like emissions temporally correlated with type III radio bursts. For the first time we present observations of 1) solar regions with long-lasting conditions for 3He acceleration and 2) solar energetic 3He that is temporary confined/re-accelerated in interplanetary space.
Particle acceleration in stellar flares is ubiquitous in the Universe, however, our Sun is the only astrophysical object where energetic particles and their source flares can both be observed. The acceleration mechanism in solar flares, tremendously enhancing (up to a factor of ten thousand) rare elements like 3He and ultra-heavy nuclei, has been puzzling for almost 50 years. Here we present some of the most intense 3He- and Fe-rich solar energetic particle events ever reported. The events were accompanied by non-relativistic electron events and type III radio bursts. The corresponding high-resolution, extreme-ultraviolet imaging observations have revealed for the first time a helical structure in the source flare with a jet-like shape. The helical jets originated in relatively small, compact active regions, located at the coronal hole boundary. A mini-filament at the base of the jet appears to trigger these events. The events were observed with the two Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatories STEREO on the backside of the Sun, during the period of increased solar activity in 2014. The helical jets may be a distinct feature of these intense events that is related to the production of high 3He and Fe enrichments.
Despite the significant progress achieved in recent years, the physical mechanisms underlying the origin of solar energetic particles (SEPs) are still a matter of debate. The complex nature of both particle acceleration and transport poses challenges to developing a universal picture of SEP events that encompasses both the low-energy (from tens of keV to a few hundreds of MeV) observations made by space-based instruments and the GeV particles detected by the worldwide network of neutron monitors in ground-level enhancements (GLEs). The high-precision data collected by the Payload for Antimatter Matter Exploration and Light-nuclei Astrophysics (PAMELA) satellite experiment offer a unique opportunity to study the SEP fluxes between $sim$80 MeV and a few GeV, significantly improving the characterization of the most energetic events. In particular, PAMELA can measure for the first time with good accuracy the spectral features at moderate and high energies, providing important constraints for current SEP models. In addition, the PAMELA observations allow the relationship between low and high-energy particles to be investigated, enabling a clearer view of the SEP origin. No qualitative distinction between the spectral shapes of GLE, sub-GLE and non-GLE events is observed, suggesting that GLEs are not a separate class, but are the subset of a continuous distribution of SEP events that are more intense at high energies. While the spectral forms found are to be consistent with diffusive shock acceleration theory, which predicts spectral rollovers at high energies that are attributed to particles escaping the shock region during acceleration, further work is required to explore the relative influences of acceleration and transport processes on SEP spectra.
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