Shock Acceleration of Solar Energetic Protons: The First 10 Minutes

Proton acceleration at a parallel coronal shock is modeled with self- consistent Alfven wave excitation and shock transmission. 18-50 keV seed protons at 0.1% of plasma proton density are accelerated in 10 minutes to a power-law intensity spectrum rolling over at 300 MeV by a 2500 km s super(-1) sho...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inThe Astrophysical journal Vol. 686; no. 2; pp. L123 - L126
Main Authors Ng, C. K, Reames, D. V
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Chicago, IL IOP Publishing 20.10.2008
University of Chicago Press
Subjects
Astronomy
Earth, ocean, space
Exact sciences and technology
Energetics
Shock waves
Coronal mass ejection
Particle emission
acceleration of particles
Sun: coronal mass ejections (CMEs)
Sun: particle emission
Particle acceleration
Solar protons
Sun
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Summary:Proton acceleration at a parallel coronal shock is modeled with self- consistent Alfven wave excitation and shock transmission. 18-50 keV seed protons at 0.1% of plasma proton density are accelerated in 10 minutes to a power-law intensity spectrum rolling over at 300 MeV by a 2500 km s super(-1) shock traveling outward from [image], for typical coronal conditions and low ambient wave intensities. Interaction of high-energy protons of large pitch angles with Alfven waves amplified by low-energy protons of small pitch angles is key to rapid acceleration. Shock acceleration is not significantly retarded by sunward streaming protons interacting with downstream waves. There is no significant second-order Fermi acceleration.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-2
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
ObjectType-Feature-1
content type line 23
ISSN:1538-4357
0004-637X
1538-4357
DOI:10.1086/592996