Energy Spectra of Ions Accelerated in Impulsive and Gradual Solar Events

Abstract

We report new high-sensitivity measurements of the energy spectra of ions from five impulsive solar flares and one gradual event observed during solar minimum by the Energetic Particles, Acceleration, Composition, and Transport (EPACT) experiment aboard the WIND spacecraft. All of the impulsive-flare events had intensities too low to be visible on previous spacecraft such as ISEE 3, which observed hundreds of impulsive-flare events. Often these events cluster in or behind a coronal mass ejection (CME) where magnetic field lines provide an excellent connection to a solar active region where flares are occurring. In most cases we can see velocity dispersion as the ions of 20 keV amu-1 to 10 MeV amu-1 streamed out from the impulsive flare at the Sun, arriving in inverse order of their velocity. Ions from a large, magnetically well-connected gradual event, associated with a CME-driven shock, also show velocity dispersion early in the event but show identical time profiles that last for several days late in the event. These time-invariant spectra of H,4He, C, O, and Fe in this gradual event are well represented as power laws in energy from 20 keV amu-1 to ~100 MeV amu-1. In the impulsive-flare events, H,3He,4He, C, O, and Fe have more rounded spectra that flatten somewhat at low energies; yet the intensities continue to increase down to 20 keV amu-1. Most of the ion energy content appears to lie below 1 MeV in the impulsive events, where it would be invisible to γ-ray line observations.