Implications of solar flare charged particle, gamma ray and neutron observations: Rapporteur Paper II for the High Energy Solar Physics Workshop

Abstract

Solar flares provide a unique site for the study of energy release and particle acceleration in astrophysics. This paper summarizes the charged particle and gamma ray aspects of the Workshop on High Energy Solar Physics held at the Goddard Space Flight Center in August 1995. The X‐ray aspects of the Workshop are summarized in another paper. Here are our highlights: (i) both the charged particle, and now also gamma ray observations have shown that stochastic acceleration due to gyroresonant interactions with plasma waves is very important in solar flares; (ii) CME driven shocks accelerate the particles observed in space from gradual flares; (iii) accelerated MeV/nucl ions can contain a large fraction of the energy released in flares; (iv) GeV ions are either trapped at the Sun or accelerated for hours; (v) nuclear gamma ray spectroscopy has become a tool for abundance determinations in the solar atmosphere; (vi) behind‐the‐limb flares can provide imaging information for solar gamma ray emission.