Selective Acceleration in Impulsive Solar Flares

A plasma acceleration mechanism is proposed to explain the dramatic enhancement in the ratio of 3 He/4He, (enhancement factor 102-103) observed in solar 3He-rich flares. Considering that coronal plasma is mainly composed of hydrogen and helium ions, the hydrogen ion-helium ion hybrid waves and quasi-perpendicular waves can be excited by energetic electron beam during the impulsive solarflares. The frequencies of these waves are close to the ^(3)He^(++) ion gyrofrequency, but far from the ^(4)He^(++ ) ion gyrofrequency. Most of these waves are selectively absorbed by 3He ions. These preheated 3He ions can be successively stochastic accelerated by Alfvén turbulence, when their velocities are larger than the local Alfvén velocity. It makes the ratio of 3He/4He dramatically enhanced and the acceleration energy spectrum of 3He ions forms a power-law distribution during the impulsive solar flares.