ENERGETIC PARTICLE CROSS-FIELD PROPAGATION EARLY IN A SOLAR EVENT

Solar energetic particles (SEPs) have been observed to easily spread across heliographic longitudes, and the mechanisms responsible for this behavior remain unclear. We use full-orbit simulations of a 10 MeV proton beam in a turbulent magnetic field to study to what extent the spread across the mean...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Astrophysical journal. Letters 2013-08, Vol.773 (2), p.1-5
Main Authors: Laitinen, T, Dalla, S, Marsh, M S
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
ASTROPHYSICS, COSMOLOGY AND ASTRONOMY
Diffusion
Energetic particles
Evolution
FOKKER-PLANCK EQUATION
GRAPH THEORY
MAGNETIC FIELDS
Mathematical models
MATHEMATICAL SOLUTIONS
MEAN-FIELD THEORY
MEV RANGE
ORBITS
PARTICLES
Pitch angle
PROTON BEAMS
SOLAR ACTIVITY
Spreads
SUN
Turbulence
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Summary:Solar energetic particles (SEPs) have been observed to easily spread across heliographic longitudes, and the mechanisms responsible for this behavior remain unclear. We use full-orbit simulations of a 10 MeV proton beam in a turbulent magnetic field to study to what extent the spread across the mean field can be described as diffusion early in a particle event. We compare the full-orbit code results to solutions of a Fokker-Planck equation including spatial and pitch angle diffusion, and of one including also propagation of the particles along random-walking magnetic field lines. We find that propagation of the particles along meandering field lines is the key process determining their cross-field spread at 1 AU at the beginning of the simulated event. The mean square displacement of the particles an hour after injection is an order of magnitude larger than that given by the diffusion model, indicating that models employing spatial cross-field diffusion cannot be used to describe early evolution of an SEP event. On the other hand, the diffusion of the particles from their initial field lines is negligible during the first 5 hr, which is consistent with the observations of SEP intensity dropouts. We conclude that modeling SEP events must take into account the particle propagation along meandering field lines for the first 20 hr of the event.
ISSN:2041-8205
2041-8213
DOI:10.1088/2041-8205/773/2/L29