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Bulk Flow Velocity and First‐Order Anisotropy of Solar Energetic Particles Observed on theWindSpacecraft: Overview of Three “Gradual” Particle Events
Author(s) -
L. C. Tan,
D. V. Reames,
C. K. Ng
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
the astrophysical journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.376
H-Index - 489
eISSN - 1538-4357
pISSN - 0004-637X
DOI - 10.1086/516626
Subject(s) - physics , solar wind , solar energetic particles , ion , interplanetary medium , heliosphere , shock wave , flow velocity , proton , computational physics , magnetohydrodynamics , interplanetary magnetic field , anisotropy , interplanetary spaceflight , atomic physics , astrophysics , geophysics , coronal mass ejection , flow (mathematics) , mechanics , plasma , nuclear physics , optics , quantum mechanics
We have developed techniques to calculate bulk flow velocity and first-order anisotropy of solar energetic particles (SEPs)withMeV nucleon 1 energiesasrecordedon theWind spacecraft.Usingthetechniques we selected and analyzed three gradual SEP events having different solar longitudes. Since upstream of interplanetary (IP) shocks during our selected events the interplanetary magnetic field is nearly perpendicular to the solar wind, the diffusive transport of SEPs along the magnetic field line is conveniently decoupled from solar-wind streaming. We present the bulkflowvelocitymeasurements of H,He, O,andFeionsatdifferent energies.Intwoofthe three events studied, itis seen that the flow directions of heavy ions reverse in sequence, i.e., faster ions reverse their direction earlier. Several hours before the IP shock passage, the bulk flows of all heavy ions become opposite to the proton flow. Thus, in the upstream region we mainly observe shock-accelerated protons that continue to flow away from the shock, while higher rigidity heavy ions predominantly come from strong acceleration near the Sun. The reversed ion direction appearsalsotoinvolveareflectingboundarybeyond1AU,fromwhichhighervelocityionsreturnearlier.Thepreferred geometry of the selected 2001 September 24 event also allows us to determine the propagating direction of proton

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