The Common Origin of High-energy Protons in Solar Energetic Particle Events and Sustained Gamma-Ray Emission from the Sun

Abstract

Abstract We report that the number of >500 MeV protons (Ng ) inferred from sustained gamma-ray emission (SGRE) from the Sun is significantly correlated with that of protons propagating into space (N SEP) as solar energetic particles (SEPs). Under the shock paradigm for SGRE, shocks driven by coronal mass ejections (CMEs) accelerate high-energy protons sending them toward the Sun to produce SGRE by interacting with the atmospheric particles. Particles also escape into the space away from the Sun to be detected as SEP events. Therefore, the significant N SEP–N g correlation (correlation coefficient 0.77) is consistent with the common shock origin for the two proton populations. Furthermore, the underlying CMEs have properties akin to those involved in ground level enhancement events indicating the presence of high-energy (up to ∼GeV) particles required for SGRE. We show that the observed gamma-ray flux is an underestimate in limb events (central meridian distance >60°) because SGRE sources are partially occulted when the emission is spatially extended. With the assumption that the SEP spectrum at the shock nose is hard and that the 100 MeV particles are accelerated throughout the shock surface (half width in the range 60°–120°) we find that the latitudinal widths of SEP distributions are energy dependent with the smallest width at the highest energies. Not using the energy-dependent width results in an underestimate of N SEP in SGRE events occurring at relatively higher latitudes. Taking these two effects into account removes the apparent lack of N SEP–N g correlation reported in previous studies.