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238 records · Page 14

Electron acceleration in solar flares

For the period Spetember 1978 to December 1982, 55 solar flare particle events for which the instruments on board the ISEE-3 spacecraft detected electrons above 10 MeV. Combining data with those from the ULEWAT spectrometer electron spectra in the range from 0.1 to 100 MeV were obtained. The observed spectral shapes can be divided into two classes. The spectra of the one class can be fit by a single power law in rigidity over the entire observed range. The spectra of the other class deviate from a power law, instead exhibiting a steepening at low rigidities and a flattening at high rigidities. Events with power-law spectra are associated with impulsive (less than 1 hr duration) soft X-ray emission, whereas events with hardening spectra are associated with long-duration (more than 1 hr) soft X-ray emission. The characteristics of long-duration events are consistent with diffusive shock acceleration taking place high in the corona. Electron spectra of short-duration flares are well reproduced by the distribution functions derived from a model assuming simultaneous second-order Fermi acceleration and Coulomb losses operating in closed flare loops.

Droge, Wolfgang↗

The dependence of solar modulation on the sign of the cosmic ray particle charge

ISEE-3 spacecraft cosmic ray telescope data on the modulation of cosmic ray electrons are compared with IMP-8 spacecraft data on low energy He atoms to evaluate the effects of solar maxima on cosmic ray modulation. The investigation is constrained to the modulation of 70-95 MeV He-4 nuclei and 600-1000 MeV electrons over the period 1965-1984, an interval covering solar maxima in 1970 and 1981. It is shown that the occurrences of solar maxima are associated with magnetic field polarity reversals. When the interplanetary magnetic field reverses polarity, oppositely charged particles flow in different directions, thereby permitting studies of drift effects and modulation. Data on the recovery periods after the solar maxima show that the He-4 nuclei recovered before the electron population in 1970, while the situation was reversed in 1981. Actual flux ratio reversals were recorded in the years surrounding the maxima. Although the data support a connection between modulation of cosmic rays and the sign of charged particles, current models cannot account for the deviation of electron intensities from the nuclei intensities.

Garcia-Munoz, M.↗

Currents in the earth's magnetotail

Currents in the earth's magnetotail are detected with the plasma instrumentation on board the ISEE-1 spacecraft. Field-aligned currents directed into and out of the ionosphere are found in the boundary layer of the plasma sheet. Typical current densities are in the range of 5 x 10-9 to 5 x 10-8 A/m2. These currents are associated with the Region 1 current system that is observed previously at low altitudes. An intense current sheet is shown to exist at a discontinuity in convection electric fields during a period of great magnetic activity. Electron acceleration, similar to that for electron inverted-V precipitation regions at low altitudes, occurs in this current sheet. Examination of the plasma velocity distributions at a neutral-sheet crossing reveals that the neutral sheet current is carried by electrons and protons. The relative directions for the bulk flows of the proton and electron plasmas indicate that the first adiabatic invariant is not conserved for the protons, and quite possibly for the electrons also. These letter findings are in substantial agreement with a neutral sheet model for acceleration of charged particles in the presence of a weak electric field.

Frank, L. A.↗

Anomalous aspects of magnetosheath flow and of the shape and oscillations of the magnetopause during an interval of strongly northward interplanetary magnetic field

On 15 Feb. 1978, the orientation of the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) remained steadily northward for more than 12 hours. The ISEE 1 and 2 spacecraft were located near apogee on the dawn side flank of the magnetotail. IMP 8 was almost symmetrically located in the magnetosheath on the dusk flank and IMP 7 was upstream in the solar wind. Using plasma and magnetic field data, we show the following: (1) the magnetosheath flow speed on the flanks of the magnetotail steadily exceeded the solar wind speed by 20 percent; (2) surface waves with approximately a 5-min period and very non-sinusoidal waveform were persistently present on the dawn magnetopause and waves of similar period were present in the dusk magnetosheath; and (3) the magnetotail ceased to flare at an antisunward distance of 15 R(sub E). We propose that the acceleration of the magnetosheath flow is achieved by magnetic tension in the draped field configuration for northward IMF and that the reduction of tail flaring is consistent with a decreased amount of open magnetic flux and a larger standoff distance of the subsolar magnetopause. Results of a three-dimensional magnetohydrodynamic simulation support this phenomenological model.

Chen, Sheng-Hsien↗