Solar Impulsive Hard X-Ray Emission and Two-Stage Electron Acceleration

Heating and acceleration of electrons in solar impulsive hard X-ray （HXR） flares are studied according to the two-stage acceleration model developed by Zhang for solar ^3Herich events. It is shown that electrostatic H-cyclotron waves can be excited at a parallel phase velocity less than about the electron thermal velocity and thus can significantly heat the electrons （up to 40 MK） through landau resonance. The preheated electrons with velocities above a threshold are further accelerated to high energies in the flare-acceleration process. The flareproduced electron spectrum is obtained and shown to be thermal at low energies and power law at high energies. In the non-thermal energy range, the spectrum can be double power law if the spectral power index is energy dependent or related. The electron energy spectrum obtained by this study agrees quantitatively with the result derived from the Reuven Ramaty High Energy Solar Spectroscopic Imager （RHESSI） HXR observations in the flare of 2002 July 23. The total flux and energy flux of electrons accelerated in the solar flare also agree with the measurements.

Solar Energetic Particle Event of 2005 January 20:Release Times and Possible Sources

Based on cosmic ray data obtained by neutron monitors at the Earth＇s surface, and data on near-relativistic electrons measured by the WIND satellite, as well as on solar X-ray and radio burst data, the solar energetic particle （SEP） event of 2005 January 20 is studied. The results show that this event is a mixed event where the flare is dominant in the acceleration of the SEPs, the interplanetary shock accelerates mainly solar protons with energies below 130 MeV, while the relativistic protons are only accelerated by the solar flare. The interplanetary shock had an obvious acceleration effect on relativistic electrons with energies greater than 2 MeV. It was found that the solar release time for the relativistic protons was about 06：41 UT, while that for the near-relativistic electrons was about 06：39 UT. The latter turned Out to be about 2 rain later than the onset time of the interplanetary type HI burst.

Investigation of the possible source for the solar energetic particle event on 2017 September 10

According to the solar proton data observed by Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites （GOES）, ground-based neutron monitors on Earth and near-relativistic electron data measured by the ACE spacecraft, the onset times of protons with different energies and near-relativistic electrons have been estimated and compared with the time of solar soft and hard X-ray and radio burst data. The results show that first arriving relativistic and non-relativistic protons and electrons may have been accelerated by the concurrent flare. The results also suggest that release times of protons with different energies may be different, and the protons with lower energy may have been released earlier than those with higher energy. Some protons accelerated by concurrent flares may be further accelerated by the shock driven by the associated CME.

Is the enhancement of type Ⅱ radio bursts during CME interactions related to the associated solar energetic particle event?

We investigated 64 pairs of interacting-CME events identified from simultaneous observations by the SOHO and STEREO spacecraft from January 2010 to August 2014, to examine the relationship between large SEP events in the energy range of ～25 to～60 MeV and properties of the interacting CMEs.We found that during CME interactions, the large SEP events in this study were all generated by CMEs with the presence of enhanced type Ⅱ radio bursts, which also have wider longitudinal distributions compared to events without a type Ⅱ radio burst or its enhancement(almost always associated with small SEP events).It seems that the signature of type Ⅱ radio burst enhancement is a good discriminator between large SEP and small or no SEP event producers during CME interactions. The type Ⅱ radio burst enhancement is more likely to be generated by CME interactions, with the main CME having a larger speed(v), angular width(WD), mass(m) and kinetic energy(Ek), and taking over the preceding CMEs. The preceding CMEs in these instances have higher v, WD, m and Ekthan those in CME pairs missing type Ⅱ radio bursts or enhancements. Generally, the values of these properties in the type-Ⅱ-enhanced events are typically higher than the corresponding non-type-Ⅱ or non-type-Ⅱ-enhanced cases for both the main and preceding CMEs. Our analysis also revealed that the intensities of associated SEP events correlate negatively with the intersection height of the two CMEs. Moreover, the overlap width of two CMEs is typically larger in type-Ⅱ-enhanced events than in non-type-Ⅱ or non-type-Ⅱ-enhanced events. Most type-Ⅱ-enhanced events and SEP events are coincident and are almost always made by the fast and wide main CMEs that sweep fully over relatively slower and narrower preceding CMEs. We suggest that a fast CME with enough energy completely overtaking a relatively narrower preceding CME, especially at low height, can drive a more energetic shock signified by the enhanced type Ⅱ radio bursts. The shock may accelerate ambient particles(likely provided by the preceding CME) and lead to large SEP events more easily.

Large solar energetic particle event that occurred on 2012 March 7 and its VDA analysis

On 2012 March 7, the STEREO Ahead and Behind spacecraft, along with near-Earth spacecraft （e.g. SOHO, Wind） situated between the two STEREO spacecraft, observed an extremely large global solar energetic particle （SEP） event in Solar Cycle 24. Two successive coronal mass ejections （CMEs） have been detected close in time. From the multi-point in-situ observations, it can be found that this SEP event was caused by the first CME, but the second one was not involved. Using velocity dispersion analysis （VDA）, we find that for a well magnetically connected point, the energetic protons and electrons are released nearly at the same time. The path lengths to STEREO-B （STB） for protons and electrons have a distinct difference and deviate remarkably from the nominal Parker spiral path length, which is likely due to the presence of interplanetary magnetic structures situated between the source and STB. Also, the VDA method seems to only obtain reasonable results at well-connected locations and the inferred release times of energetic particles in different energy channels are similar. We suggest that good-connection is crucial for obtaining both an accurate release time and path length simultaneously, agreeing with the modeling result of Wang ＆ Qin （2015）.

Numerical simulations of solar energetic particle event timescales associated with ICMEs

Recently, S. W. Kahler studied the timescales of solar energetic particle （SEP） events asso- ciated with coronal mass ejections （CMEs） from analysis of spacecraft data. They obtained different timescales for SEP events, such as TO, the onset time from CME launch to SEP onset, TR, the rise time from onset to half the peak intensity （0.5/p）, and TD, the duration of the SEP intensity above 0.5Ip. In this work, we solve the transport equation for SEPs considering interplanetary coronal mass ejection （ICME） shocks as energetic particle sources. With our modeling assumptions, our simulations show similar results to Kahler＇s analysis of spacecraft data, that the weighted average of TD increases with both CME speed and width. Moreover, from our simulation results, we suggest TD is directly dependent on CME speed, but not dependent on CME width, which were not found in the analysis of observational data.

Modeling the 2017 September 10 solar energetic particle event using the iPATH model

On 2017 September 10,a fast coronal mass ejection(CME)erupted from the active region(AR)12673,leading to a ground level enhancement(GLE)event at Earth.Using the 2D improved Particle Acceleration and Transport in the Heliosphere(iPATH)model,we model the large solar energetic particle(SEP)event of 2017 September 10 observed at Earth,Mars and STEREO-A.Based on observational evidence,we assume that the CME-driven shock experienced a large lateral expansion shortly after the eruption,which is modeled by a double Gaussian velocity profile in this simulation.We apply the in-situ shock arrival times and the observed CME speeds at multiple spacecraft near Earth and Mars as constraints to adjust the input model parameters.The modeled time intensity profiles and fluence for energetic protons are then compared with observations.Reasonable agreements with observations at Mars and STEREO-A are found.The simulated results at Earth differ from observations of GOES-15.However,the simulated results at a heliocentric longitude 20°west to Earth fit reasonably well with the GOES observation.This can be explained if the pre-event solar wind magnetic field at Earth is not described by a nominal Parker field.Our results suggest that a large lateral expansion of the CME-driven shock and a distorted interplanetary magnetic field due to previous events can be important in understanding this GLE event.

The Influence of Ion-Acoustic Turbulence on the Electron Acceleration in the Reconnecting Current Sheet

Through solving the single electron equation of motion and the Fokker Planck equation including the terms of electric field strength and ion-acoustic turbulence, we study the influence of the ion-acoustic wave on the electron acceleration in turbulent reconnecting current sheets. It is shown that the ion-acoustic turbulence which causes plasma heating rather than particle acceleration should be considered. With typical parameter values, the acceleration time scale is around the order of 10-6 s, the accelerated electrons may have approximately a power-law distribution in the energy range 20-100 keV and the spectral index is about 3-10, which is basically consistent with the observed hard X-ray spectra in solar flares.

Flare evolution and polarization changes in fine structures of solar radio emission in the 2013 April 11 event

The measurement of positions and sizes of radio sources in observations is important for un- derstanding of the flare evolution. For the first time, solar radio spectral fine structures in an M6.5 flare that occurred on 2013 April 11 were observed simultaneously by several radio instruments at four different observatories： Chinese Solar Broadband Radio Spectrometer at Huairou （SBRS/Huairou）, Ondrejov Radio Spectrograph in the Czech Republic （ORSC/Ondrejov）, Badary Broadband Microwave Spectropolarimeter （BMS/Irkutsk）, and spectrograph/IZMIRAN （Moscow, Troitsk）. The fine structures included microwave zebra patterns （ZPs）, fast pulsations and fiber bursts. They were observed during the flare brightening lo- cated at the tops of a loop arcade as shown in images taken by the extreme ultraviolet （EUV） telescope onboard NASA＇s satellite Solar Dynamics Observatory （SDO）. The flare occurred at 06：58-07：26 UT in solar active region NOAA 11719 located close to the solar disk center. ZPs appeared near high frequency boundaries of the pulsations, and their spectra observed in Huairou and Ondrejov agreed with each other in terms of details. At the beginning of the flare＇s impulsive phase, a strong narrowband ZP burst occurred with a moderate left-handed circular polarization. Then a series of pulsations and ZPs were observed in almost unpolarized emission. After 07：00 UT a ZP appeared with a moderate right-handed polarization. In the flare decay phase （at about 07：25 UT）, ZPs and fiber bursts become strongly right-hand polarized. BMS/Irkutsk spectral observations indicated that the background emission showed a left-handed circular polarization （similar to SBRS/Huairou spectra around 3 GHz）. However, the fine structure appeared in the right-handed polarization. The dynamics of the polarization was associated with the motion of the flare ex- citer, which was observed in EUV images at 171 A and 131 A by the SDO Atmospheric Imaging Assembly （AIA）. Combining magnetograms observed by the SDO Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager （HMI） with the homologous assumption of EUV flare brightenings and ZP bursts, we deduced that the observed ZPs correspond to the ordinary radio emission mode. However, future analysis needs to verify the assumption that zebra radio sources are really related to a closed magnetic loop, and are located at lower heights in the solar atmosphere than the source of pulsations.

High energy neutron and pion-decay gamma-ray emissions from solar flares

Solar flare gamma-ray emissions from energetic ions and electrons have been detected and measured to GeV energies since 1980. In addition, neutrons produced in solar flares with 100 MeV to GeV energies have been observed at the Earth. These emissions are produced by the highest energy ions and electrons accelerated at the Sun and they provide our only direct （albeit secondary） knowledge about the properties of the accelerator（s） acting in a solar flare. The solar flares, which have direct evidence for pion-decay gamma-rays, are unique and are the focus of this paper. We review our current knowledge of the highest energy solar emissions, and how the characteristics of the acceleration process are deduced from the observations. Results from the RHESSI, INTEGRAL and CORONAS missions will also be covered. The review will also cover the solar flare capabilities of the new mission, FERMI GAMMA RAY SPACE TELESCOPE, launched on 2008 June II. Finally, we discuss the requirements for future missions to advance this vital area of solar flare physics.

The Origin and Acceleration of ~3He and Heavy Ions in the 2000 July 14 Event

According to the evolutionary properties of the flare, halo coronal mass ejection （CME）, enrichments of 3He ions in the energy range of 3.5-26 MeV nucl^-1 and Ne, Mg, Si and Fe ions in the energy range of 8.5-15 MeV nucl^- 1, we argue that the 3He and heavy ions originate in the middle corona （-0.1-1 R⊙） with well-connected open field lines to the Earth, where the magnetic reconnection leads to acceleration of the electrons and the production of type-ll burst during the decay phase of the soft X-ray emission. The acceleration of 3He and heavy ions may have been accomplished in two stages： first H-He ion-ion hybrid waves may be easily excited by the energetic electron beams produced in the middle corona, and these waves are preferentially absorbed by ZHe and heavy ions due to their frequency being near the fundamental gyro frequency of the ZHe ions and harmonic gyro frequency of Ne, Mg, Si and Fe ions. These preheated ions escape into interplanetary space along the open field lines and may be further accelerated to tens of MeV nucl^- 1 by CME-driven shock. The theoretical calculations show that the ZHe and heavy ions may be accelerated to the energy of - MeV nucl^-1 by the ion-ion hybrid waves and be further accelerated to the energy of -100 MeV nucl^-1 by the shock wave： these are basically consistent with the observations.

Proton activity of the Sun in current solar cycle 24

We present a study of seven large solar proton events in the current solar cycle 24（from 2009 January up to the current date）. They were recorded by the GOES spacecraft with the highest proton fluxes being over 200 pfu for energies 〉10 Me V. In situ particle measurements show that：（1） The profiles of the proton fluxes are highly dependent on the locations of their solar sources, namely flares or coronal mass ejections（CMEs）, which confirms the ＂heliolongitude rules＂ associated with solar energetic particle fluxes;（2） The solar particle release（SPR） times fall in the decay phase of the flare emission, and are in accordance with the times when the CMEs travel to an average height of 7.9 solar radii; and（3） The time differences between the SPR and the flare peak are also dependent on the locations of the solar active regions. The results tend to support the scenario of proton acceleration by the CME-driven shock,even though there exists a possibility of particle acceleration at the flare site, with subsequent perpendicular diffusion of accelerated particles in the interplanetary magnetic field. We derive the integral time-of-maximum spectra of solar protons in two forms： a single power-law distribution and a power law roll-over with an exponential tail. It is found that the unique ground level enhancement that occurred in the event on 2012 May 17 displays the hardest spectrum and the largest roll-over energy which may explain why this event could extend to relativistic energies.

太阳和太阳系等离子体研究专辑:序言

宇宙中超过99.9%的可见物质处于等离子体状态,等离子天体物理是天体物理的重要分支,为理解天体系统的形成、演化及爆发现象提供着重要的理论基础.专辑通过14篇文章系统介绍了中国科学院紫金山天文台等离子天体物理团队在太阳和太阳系等离子体方面的研究成果,希望能帮助读者全面了解太阳与日球等离子体物理研究的重要进展及存在的问题.

太阳米波和分米波Ⅱ型、Ⅲ型射电暴及其精细结构观测研究进展

太阳米波和分米波的射电观测是对太阳爆发过程中耀斑和日冕物质抛射现象研究的重要观测手段。米波和分米波的太阳射电暴以相干等离子体辐射为主导,表现出在时域和频域的多样性和复杂性。其中Ⅱ型射电暴是激波在日冕中运动引起电磁波辐射的结果。在Ⅱ型射电暴方面,首先对米波Ⅱ型射电暴的激波起源问题和米波Ⅱ型射电暴与行星际Ⅱ型射电暴的关系问题进行了讨论;其次,结合Lin-Forbes太阳爆发理论模型对Ⅱ型射电暴的开始时间和起始频率进行讨论:最后,对Ⅱ型射电暴信号中包含的两种射电精细结构,Herringbone结构(即鱼骨结构)和与激波相关的Ⅲ型射电暴也分别进行了讨论。Ⅲ型射电暴是高能电子束在日冕中运动产生电磁波辐射的结果。在Ⅲ型射电暴方面,首先介绍了利用Ⅲ型射电暴对日冕磁场位形和等离子体密度进行研究的具体方法;其次,对利用Ⅲ型射电暴测量日冕温度的最新理论进行介绍;最后,对Ⅲ型射电暴和Ⅱ型射电暴的时间关系、Ⅲ型射电暴和粒子加速以及Ⅲ型射电暴信号中包含的射电精细结构(例如斑马纹、纤维爆发及尖峰辐射)等问题进行讨论并介绍有关的最新研究进展。

1998年9月23日复杂太阳爆发射电联合观测的初步分析

利用北京天文台1998.09.23日1—2 GHz和2.6-3.8 GHz频谱仪观测到的一个III—IV型复杂大爆发,结合俄罗斯SSRT和德国分米-米波动态频谱仪的观测资料,进行了初步的比对分析,拓展了关于日冕电子加速和日冕磁结构方面的一些研究内容.简单地注释了一些可研究的现象和运动IV型爆发及多重脉动的辐射机制.

磁重联电流片的参数变化对电子加速的影响

通过采用试验粒子的方法,研究了在有引导磁场B_z存在的磁重联电流片中,电子被super-Dreicer电场E_z加速后的运动特征。首先,考虑了引导磁场恒定且与电场有不同方向时对粒子加速的影响。在这种情况下,B_z方向的改变直接改变了电子的运动轨迹,使其沿着不同的路径离开电流片。在B_z和E_z同向时,高能电子的pitch-angle接近于180°。然而,当2者反向时,高能电子的pitch-angle接近0°。引导磁场的取向只是使电场有选择地对不同区域的电子进行加速,不会最终影响电子的能量分布,最终得到的能谱是普遍的幂率谱E^(-γ)。在典型的日冕条件下,γ大约等于2.9。进一步的研究表明γ的大小依赖于引导磁场及磁重联电场的强弱,以及电流片的尺度。随后,也研究了包含多个X-点和O-点电流片中被加速粒子的运动特征。结果表明X-点和O-点的存在使得粒子被束缚在加速区并获得最大的加速,而且最终的能谱具有多幂率谱的特征。

太阳中微子问题

文中从中微子物理学、太阳中微子的探测、标准太阳模型的建立等方面对太阳中微子问题的提出进行了回顾。各类太阳中微子探测器测量结果不同程度的偏低，以及不同类探测器（如Kamiokande和Homestake）测量结果之间的矛盾，使得人们对太阳中微子的研究表现出浓厚的兴趣。对太阳中微子问题可从粒子物理和天体物理两个方面进行研究。文中分别对这两个研究领域中提出的企图解决太阳中微子问题的模型作了简要评述。

放射分析化学

放射分析化学是现代放射化学的重要分支,也是目前最活跃的研究领域之一。本文从放射分析化学与大科学装置、放射分析化学与国家需求和放射分析化学与重大科学问题3个方面综述近期我国放射分析领域的重要进展。

与高能质子共生的两类太阳微波爆发(英)

在分析了近年来对太阳射电爆发与高能质子观测的基础上指出，既非II型也非米波IV型而是强微波爆发几乎总是同高能质子共生的；这一结果否定了以前长期所持的观点。同高能质子共生的微波爆发可分成两类：强脉冲型和强微波IV型，前者共生的被俘质子或相互作用质子要多于逃逸质子，后者则常共生有更多的逃逸质子．作者对每种情况中质子的有效加速过程进行了考虑，并对强微波爆发为何几乎总是有高能质子共生的缘由作了解释．

Probing shock geometry via the charge to mass ratio dependence of heavy ion spectra from multiple spacecraft observations of the 2013 November 4 event

In large Solar Energetic Particle （SEP） events, ions can be accelerated at coronal mass ejection （CME）-driven shocks to very high energies. The spectra of heavy ions in many large SEP events show features such as roll-overs or spectral breaks. In some events when the spectra are plotted in terms of energy/nucleon, they can be shifted relative to each other to make the spectral breaks align. The amount of shift is charge to mass ratio （Q/A） dependent and varies from event to event. This can be understood if the spectra of heavy ions are organized by the diffusion coefficients （Cohen et al. 2005）. In the work of Li et al. （2009）, the Q/A dependence of the scaling is related to shock geometry when the CME-driven shock is close to the Sun. For events where multiple in-situ spacecraft observations exist, one may expect that different spacecraft are connected to different portions of the CME-driven shock that have different shock geometries, therefore yielding different Q/A dependence. In this work, we examine one SEP event which occurred on 2013 November 4. We study the Q/A dependence of the energy scaling for heavy ion spectra using helium, oxygen and iron ions. Observations from STEREO-A, STEREO-B and ACE are examined. We find that the scalings are different for different spacecraft. We suggest that this is because ACE, STEREO- A and STEREO-B are connected to different parts of the shock that have different shock geometries. Our analysis indicates that studying the Q/A scaling of in-situ particle spectra can serve as a powerful tool to remotely examine the shock geometry for large SEP events.