Solar energetic particle events with extremely high 3He content observed by Solar Orbiter

We performed a survey of 3He-rich events using observations from the Suprathermal Ion Spectrograph on the Solar Orbiter mission from 2020 to 2024. We identified 57 3He-rich events, each showing clear 3He enhancements above the background and 3He/4He abundance ratios greater than 1 in at least one en...

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Autores: Kouloumvakos, Athanasios, Mason, Glenn M., Ho, George C., Allen, Robert C., Rodríguez-Pacheco Martín, Javier|||0000-0002-4240-1115, Wimmer-Schweingruber, R. F.
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2025
País:España
Institución:Universidad de Alcalá (UAH)
Repositorio:e_Buah Biblioteca Digital Universidad de Alcalá
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:ebuah.uah.es:10017/67372
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/10017/67372
https://dx.doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/adbae7
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Astronomía
Física
Astronomy
Physics
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spelling Solar energetic particle events with extremely high 3He content observed by Solar Orbiter Kouloumvakos, Athanasios Mason, Glenn M. Ho, George C. Allen, Robert C. Rodríguez-Pacheco Martín, Javier|||0000-0002-4240-1115 Wimmer-Schweingruber, R. F. Astronomía Física Astronomy Physics We performed a survey of 3He-rich events using observations from the Suprathermal Ion Spectrograph on the Solar Orbiter mission from 2020 to 2024. We identified 57 3He-rich events, each showing clear 3He enhancements above the background and 3He/4He abundance ratios greater than 1 in at least one energy channel in the range from 193.2 keV nucleon−1 to 8.74 MeV nucleon−1. The analysis of the events’ abundance ratios shows characteristics of impulsive solar energetic particle events with 3He/4He ∼ 3.1 and Fe/O ∼ 1.3. We observe an energy dependence in the 3He/4He ratio, which increases with energy, while the Fe/O ratios are almost constant with energy. We also found that six events in our list have extremely high 3He content (e.g., 3He/C–Fe ratios in the range 25–62). These events show curved 3He and heavy nuclei spectra that roll over at higher energies and flatten toward low energy. Their spectral forms can be reasonably fit with simple exponentials with a 3He rollover energy in the range of a few hundred keV per nucleon and a C–Fe rollover energy ∼2–3 times lower. The differences in spectral rollover energy lead to a strong energy dependence of the ratio 3He/C–Fe, rising sharply with energy. We conclude that the features of these events with extremely high 3He content have a reasonable likelihood of depicting the initial acceleration process, which is driven by magnetic reconnection in flaring loops near the solar surface. American Astronomical Society http://hdl.handle.net/10017/67372 https://dx.doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/adbae7
title Solar energetic particle events with extremely high 3He content observed by Solar Orbiter
spellingShingle Solar energetic particle events with extremely high 3He content observed by Solar Orbiter
Kouloumvakos, Athanasios
Astronomía
Física
Astronomy
Physics
title_short Solar energetic particle events with extremely high 3He content observed by Solar Orbiter
title_full Solar energetic particle events with extremely high 3He content observed by Solar Orbiter
title_fullStr Solar energetic particle events with extremely high 3He content observed by Solar Orbiter
title_full_unstemmed Solar energetic particle events with extremely high 3He content observed by Solar Orbiter
title_sort Solar energetic particle events with extremely high 3He content observed by Solar Orbiter
author Kouloumvakos, Athanasios
author_facet Kouloumvakos, Athanasios
Mason, Glenn M.
Ho, George C.
Allen, Robert C.
Rodríguez-Pacheco Martín, Javier|||0000-0002-4240-1115
Wimmer-Schweingruber, R. F.
author_role author
author2 Mason, Glenn M.
Ho, George C.
Allen, Robert C.
Rodríguez-Pacheco Martín, Javier|||0000-0002-4240-1115
Wimmer-Schweingruber, R. F.
author2_role author
author
author
author
author
topic Astronomía
Física
Astronomy
Physics
topic_facet Astronomía
Física
Astronomy
Physics
description We performed a survey of 3He-rich events using observations from the Suprathermal Ion Spectrograph on the Solar Orbiter mission from 2020 to 2024. We identified 57 3He-rich events, each showing clear 3He enhancements above the background and 3He/4He abundance ratios greater than 1 in at least one energy channel in the range from 193.2 keV nucleon−1 to 8.74 MeV nucleon−1. The analysis of the events’ abundance ratios shows characteristics of impulsive solar energetic particle events with 3He/4He ∼ 3.1 and Fe/O ∼ 1.3. We observe an energy dependence in the 3He/4He ratio, which increases with energy, while the Fe/O ratios are almost constant with energy. We also found that six events in our list have extremely high 3He content (e.g., 3He/C–Fe ratios in the range 25–62). These events show curved 3He and heavy nuclei spectra that roll over at higher energies and flatten toward low energy. Their spectral forms can be reasonably fit with simple exponentials with a 3He rollover energy in the range of a few hundred keV per nucleon and a C–Fe rollover energy ∼2–3 times lower. The differences in spectral rollover energy lead to a strong energy dependence of the ratio 3He/C–Fe, rising sharply with energy. We conclude that the features of these events with extremely high 3He content have a reasonable likelihood of depicting the initial acceleration process, which is driven by magnetic reconnection in flaring loops near the solar surface.
publishDate 2025
format article
url http://hdl.handle.net/10017/67372
https://dx.doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/adbae7
language eng
eu_rights_str_mv openAccess
publisher American Astronomical Society
institution Universidad de Alcalá (UAH)
collection e_Buah Biblioteca Digital Universidad de Alcalá
reponame_str e_Buah Biblioteca Digital Universidad de Alcalá
instname_str Universidad de Alcalá (UAH)
_version_ 1878431090106957824
publishDateSort 2025
author_browse Allen, Robert C.
Ho, George C.
Kouloumvakos, Athanasios
Mason, Glenn M.
Rodríguez-Pacheco Martín, Javier|||0000-0002-4240-1115
Wimmer-Schweingruber, R. F.
publisherStr American Astronomical Society
score 6.924472