3D modeling of shock-induced trapping of solar energetic particles in the Earth's magnetosphere

Abstract

The prompt trapping of solar energetic particles (SEPs) in the inner magnetosphere around L = 2 –2.5, including protons and heavier ions, has been observed at both the Cycle 22 and 23 solar maxima, in association with high-speed interplanetary shocks and storm sudden commencements (SSCs). Recent observations include the Bastille Day 2000 CME-driven storm as well as two in November 2001, which produced a long-lived new proton belt, as well as trapping of heavy ions up to Fe in all three cases. A survey of such events around the most recent solar maximum, including high altitude measurements from Polar and HEO satellites along with low altitude measurements from `the Solar Anomalous and Magnetospheric Particle Explorer (SAMPEX)', indicates similarities to the well-studied March 24, 1991 SSC event. In this event, electrons and protons in drift resonance with a magnetosonic impulse were transported radially inward. A requirement for such shock-induced acceleration is a high-speed CME-shock at 1 AU, which launches a perturbation with comparable velocity inside the magnetosphere. Secondly, there must be a source population which is drift-resonant with the impulse. The CME-shock itself is a source of solar energetic particles, both protons and heavy ions, with higher fluxes and harder spectra associated with faster moving CMEs. Arrival of the interplanetary shock compresses and changes the magnetosphere topology, leading to a reduction of the geomagnetic cutoff, initially around L = 4 for SEP protons. This effect is modeled using a 3D Lorentz integration of SEP trajectories in electric and magnetic fields taken from the Lyon–Fedder–Mobarry (LFM) global MHD code, with solar wind input parameters taken from spacecraft measurements upstream from the bow shock, carried out for the November 24, 2001 SEP event. The results indicate that an enhancement in solar wind dynamic pressure for this event plays a role in the observed injection of ions to low L-values, to form a new proton belt which has lasted for more than 2 years.