Gradual SEP Events

Abstract

Gradual solar energetic-particle (SEP) events are “big proton events” and are usually much more “gradual” in their decay than in their onset. As their intensities increase, particles streaming away from the shock amplify Alfvén waves that scatter subsequent particles, increasing their acceleration, eventually limiting ion flow at the “streaming limit.” Waves generated by higher-speed protons running ahead can also throttle the flow of lower-energy ions, flattening spectra and altering abundances in the biggest SEP events. Thus, we find that the A/Q-dependence of scattering causes element-abundance patterns varying in space and time, which define source-plasma temperatures T, since the pattern of Q values of the ions depends upon temperature. Differences in T explain much of the variation of element abundances in gradual SEP events. In nearly 70% of gradual events, SEPs are shock-accelerated from ambient coronal plasma of ~0.8–1.6 MK, while 24% of the events involve material with T ≈ 2–4 MK re-accelerated from residual impulsive-suprathermal ions with pre-enhanced abundances. This source-plasma temperature can occasionally vary with solar longitude across the face of a shock. Non-thermal variations in ion abundances in gradual SEP events reaccelerated from the 2–4 MK impulsive source plasma are reduced, relative to those in the original impulsive SEPs, probably because the accelerating shock waves sample a pool of ions from multiple jet sources. Late in gradual events, SEPs become magnetically trapped in a reservoir behind the CME where spectra are uniform in space and decrease adiabatically in time as the magnetic bottle containing them slowly expands. Finally, we find variations of the He/O abundance ratio in the source plasma of different events.