On the Remote Detection of Suprathermal Ions in the Solar Corona and their Role as Seeds for Solar Energetic Particle Production

Abstract

Forecasting large Solar Energetic Particle (SEP) events associated with shocks driven by fast coronal mass ejections (CME) pose a major difficulty in the field of Space Weather. Besides issues associated with CME initiation, the SEP intensities are difficult to predict, spanning 3 orders of magnitude at any given CME speed. Many lines of indirect evidence point to the pre-existence of suprathermal seed particles for injection into the acceleration process as a key ingredient limiting the SEP intensity of a given event. This paper outlines the observational and theoretical basis for the inference that a suprathermal particle population is present prior to large SEP events, explores various scenarios for generating seed particles and their observational signatures, and explains how such suprathermals could be detected through measuring the wings of the H I Ly-alpha line.

15 pages, emulateapj, 6 figures, accepted by ApJ

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• Physical correlations lead to kappa distributions
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• Electron Heating, Magnetic Field Amplification, and Cosmic Ray Precursor Length at Supernova Remnant Shocks
• Plasma compression in magnetic reconnection regions in the solar corona
• A New Look at Type III Bursts and their Use as Coronal Diagnostics
• On the expected $\gamma$-ray emission from nearby flaring stars
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• Wave Propagation at Oblique Shocks: How Did Tycho Get Its Stripes?
• Corotating Shock Waves and the Solar-Wind Source of Energetic Ion Abundances: Power Laws in A/Q
• Excess H, Suppressed He, and the Abundances of Elements in Solar Energetic Particles
• Reflection of fast magnetosonic waves near magnetic reconnection region
• Effects of a Velocity Shear on Double Current Sheet Systems: Explosive Reconnection and Particle Acceleration
• Critical Mach Numbers for Magnetohydrodynamic Shocks with Accelerated Particles and Waves
• Three-stage Acceleration of Solar Energetic Particles Detected by Parker Solar Probe
• Suprathermal Proton Spectra at Interplanetary Shocks in Hybrid Simulations
• Spectroscopic EUV observations of impulsive solar energetic particle event sources