Observations of Energetic-Particle Population Enhancements along Intermittent Structures near the Sun from Parker Solar Probe
Riddhi Bandyopadhyay, W. H. Matthaeus, T. N. Parashar, R. Chhiber, D. Ruffolo, M. L. Goldstein, B. A. Maruca, A. Chasapis, R. Qudsi, D. J. McComas, E. R. Christ… 展开作者
Riddhi Bandyopadhyay, W. H. Matthaeus, T. N. Parashar, R. Chhiber, D. Ruffolo, M. L. Goldstein, B. A. Maruca, A. Chasapis, R. Qudsi, D. J. McComas, E. R. Christian, J. R. Szalay, C. J. Joyce, J. Giacalone, N. A. Schwadron, D. G. Mitchell, M. E. Hill, M. E. Wiedenbeck, R. L. McNutt, M. I. Desai, Stuart D. Bale, J. W. Bonnell, Thierry Dudok de Wit, Keith Goetz, Peter R. Harvey, Robert J. MacDowall, David M. Malaspina, Marc Pulupa, M. Velli, J. C. Kasper, K. E. Korreck, M. Stevens, A. W. Case, N. Raouafi
备注：
Accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal Supplement, PSP special issue
Observations at 1 au have confirmed that enhancements in measured energetic particle fluxes are statistically associated with "rough" magnetic fields, i.e., fields having atypically large spatial derivatives or increments, as measured by the Partial Variance of Increments (PVI) method. One way to interpret this observation is as an association of the energetic particles with trapping or channeling within magnetic flux tubes, possibly near their boundaries. However, it remains unclear whether this association is a transport or local effect; i.e., the particles might have been energized at a distant location, perhaps by shocks or reconnection, or they might experience local energization or re-acceleration. The Parker Solar Probe (PSP), even in its first two orbits, offers a unique opportunity to study this statistical correlation closer to the corona. As a first step, we analyze the separate correlation properties of the energetic particles measured by the \isois instruments during the first solar encounter. The distribution of time intervals between a specific type of event, i.e., the waiting time, can indicate the nature of the underlying process. We find that the \isois observations show a power-law distribution of waiting times, indicating a correlated (non-Poisson) distribution. Analysis of low-energy \isois data suggests that the results are consistent with the 1 au studies, although we find hints of some unexpected behavior. A more complete understanding of these statistical distributions will provide valuable insights into the origin and propagation of solar energetic particles, a picture that should become clear with future PSP orbits.
Energetic particle transport in the interplanetary medium is known to be affected by magnetic structures. It has been demonstrated for solar energetic particles in near-Earth orbit studies, and also for the more energetic cosmic rays. In this paper, we show observational evidence that intensity variations of solar energetic particles can be correlated with the occurrence of helical magnetic flux tubes and their boundaries. The analysis is carried out using data from Parker Solar Probe orbit 5, in the period 2020 May 24 to June 2. We use FIELDS magnetic field data and energetic particle measure…
During the Parker Solar Probe's (PSP) first perihelion pass, the spacecraft reached within a heliocentric distance of \(\sim 37~R_\odot\) and observed numerous magnetic and flow structures characterized by sharp gradients. To better understand these intermittent structures in the young solar wind, an important property to examine is their degree of correlation in time and space. To this end, we use the well-tested Partial Variance of Increments (PVI) technique to identify intermittent events in FIELDS and SWEAP observations of magnetic and proton-velocity fields (respectively) during PSP's fir…
Parallel Diffusion Coefficient of Energetic Charged Particles in the Inner Heliosphere from the Turbulent Magnetic Fields Measured by Parker Solar Probe
\textit{Parker Solar Probe} has shown the ubiquitous presence of strong magnetic field deflections, namely switchbacks, during its first perihelion where it was embedded in a highly Alfvénic slow stream. Here, we study the turbulent magnetic fluctuations around ion scales in three intervals characterized by a different switchback activity, identified by the behaviour of the magnetic field radial component, $B_r$. \textit{Quiet} ($B_r$ does not show significant fluctuations), \textit{weak} ($B_r$ has strong fluctuations but no reversals) and \textit{strong} ($B_r$ has full reversals) periods sh…
Drifts in the Parker spiral interplanetary magnetic field are known to be an important component in the propagation of galactic cosmic rays, while they are thought to be negligible for Solar Energetic Particles (SEPs). As a result they have so far been ignored in SEP propagation modelling and data analysis. We examine drift velocities in the Parker spiral within single particle first-order adiabatic theory, in a local coordinate system with an axis parallel to the magnetic field. We show that, in the presence of scattering in interplanetary space, protons at the high end of the SEP energy rang…
This paper presents a stochastic three-dimensional (3D) focused transport simulation of solar energetic particles (SEPs) produced by a data-driven coronal mass ejection (CME) shock propagating through a data-driven model of coronal and heliospheric magnetic fields. The injection of SEPs at the CME shock is treated using diffusive shock acceleration of post-shock superthermal solar wind ions. A time backward stochastic simulation is employed to solve the transport equation to obtain the SEP time-intensity profile at any location, energy, and pitch angle. The model is applied to a SEP event on 2…
Suprathermal ions in the corona are thought to serve as seed particles for large gradual solar energetic particle (SEP) events associated with fast and wide coronal mass ejections (CMEs). A better understanding of the role of suprathermal particles as seed populations for SEP events can be made by using observations close to the Sun. We study a series of SEP events observed by the Integrated Science Investigation of the Sun (IS$\odot$IS) suite on board the Parker Solar Probe (PSP) from 2020 May 27 to June 2, during which PSP was at heliocentric distances between $\sim$0.4 and $\sim$0.2 au. The…
A solar energetic particle event was detected by the Integrated Science Investigation of the Sun (ISOIS) instrument suite on Parker Solar Probe (PSP) on 2019 April 4 when the spacecraft was inside of 0.17 au and less than 1 day before its second perihelion, providing an opportunity to study solar particle acceleration and transport unprecedentedly close to the source. The event was very small, with peak 1 MeV proton intensities of ~0.3 particles (cm^2 sr s MeV)^-1, and was undetectable above background levels at energies above 10 MeV or in particle detectors at 1 au. It was strongly anisotropi…
The Integrated Science Investigations of the Sun (IS$\odot$IS) instrument suite includes two Energetic Particle instruments: EPI-Hi, designed to measure ions from ~1-200 MeV/nuc, and EPI-Lo, designed to measure ions from ~20 keV/nuc to ~15 MeV/nuc. We present an analysis of eight energetic proton events observed across the energy range of both instruments during PSP's first two orbits in order to examine their combined energy spectra. Background corrections are applied to help resolve spectral breaks between the two instruments and are shown to be effective. In doing so we demonstrate that, ev…
We examine statistics of magnetic field vector components to explore how intermittency evolves from near sun plasma to radial distances as large as 10 au. Statistics entering the analysis include auto-correlation, magnetic structure functions of order n (SFn), and scale dependent kurtosis (SDK), each grouped in ranges of heliocentric distance. The Goddard Space Flight Center Space Physics Data Facility (SPDF) provides magnetic field measurements for resolutions of 6.8ms for Parker Solar Probe, 6s for Helios, and 1.92s for Voyager 1. We compute SF2 to determine the scales encompassing the inert…
Launched on 12 Aug. 2018, NASA's Parker Solar Probe had completed 13 of its scheduled 24 orbits around the Sun by Nov. 2022. The mission's primary science goal is to determine the structure and dynamics of the Sun's coronal magnetic field, understand how the solar corona and wind are heated and accelerated, and determine what processes accelerate energetic particles. Parker Solar Probe returned a treasure trove of science data that far exceeded quality, significance, and quantity expectations, leading to a significant number of discoveries reported in nearly 700 peer-reviewed publications. The…
As a key feature, NASA's Parker Solar Probe (PSP) and ESA-NASA's Solar Orbiter (SO) missions cooperate to trace solar wind and transients from their sources on the Sun to the inner interplanetary space. The goal of this work is to accurately reconstruct the interplanetary Parker spiral and the connection between coronal features observed remotely by the Metis coronagraph on-board SO and those detected in situ by PSP at the time of the first PSP-SO quadrature of January 2021. We use the Reverse In-situ and MHD Approach (RIMAP), a hybrid analytical-numerical method performing data-driven reconst…
Understanding the magnetic connections from the Sun to interplanetary space is crucial for linking in situ particle observations with the solar source regions of the particles. A simple connection along the large-scale Parker spiral magnetic field is made complex by the turbulent random-walk of field lines. In this paper, we present the first analytical model of heliospheric magnetic fields where the dominant 2D component of the turbulence is transverse to the Parker spiral. The 2D wave field is supplemented with a minor wave field component that has asymptotically slab geometry at small and l…
Observations from Parker Solar Probe's first five orbits are used to investigate the helioradial evolution of probability density functions (PDFs) of fluctuations of magnetic field components, between \(\sim 28\) - 200 \(\rs\). Transformation of the magnetic field vector to a local mean-field coordinate system permits examination of anisotropy relative to the mean magnetic field direction. Attention is given to effects of averaging-interval size. It is found that PDFs of the perpendicular fluctuations are well approximated by a Gaussian function, with the parallel fluctuations less so: kurtose…
The solar wind is found by Parker Solar Probe (PSP) to be abundant with Alfvénic velocity spikes and magnetic field kinks. Temperature enhancement is another remarkable feature associated with the Alfvénic spikes. How the prototype of these coincident phenomena is generated intermittently in the source region becomes a hot topic of wide concerns. Here we propose a new model introducing guide-field discontinuity into the interchange magnetic reconnection between open funnels and closed loops with different magnetic helicities. The modified interchange reconnection model not only can accelerate …
Parker Solar Probe observations of solar energetic particle (SEP) events with inverse velocity arrival (IVA) features
California Institute of Technology（加州理工学院）；Space Sciences Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley（加州大学伯克利分校空间科学实验室）；NASA Goddard Space Flight Center（美国宇航局戈达德太空飞行中心）；Princeton University（普林斯顿大学）
The solar wind proton temperature at 1-au has been found to be correlated with small-scale intermittent magnetic structures, i.e., regions with enhanced temperature are associated with coherent structures such as current sheets. Using Parker Solar Probe data from the first encounter, we study this association using measurements of radial proton temperature, employing the Partial Variance of Increments (PVI) technique to identify intermittent magnetic structures. We observe that the probability density functions of high-PVI events have higher median temperatures than those with lower PVI, The r…
Observations of plasma waves by the Fields Suite and of electrons by the Solar Wind Electrons Alphas and Protons Investigation (SWEAP) on Parker Solar Probe provide strong evidence for pitch angle scattering of strahl-energy electrons by narrowband whistler-mode waves at radial distances less than ~0.3 AU. We present two example intervals of a few hours that include 8 waveform captures with whistler-mode waves and 26 representative electron distributions that are examined in detail. Two were narrow; 17 were clearly broadened, and 8 were very broad. The two with narrow strahl occurred when ther…
Several studies in the near-Earth environment show that intermittent structures are important sites of energy dissipation and particle energization. Recent Parker Solar Probe (PSP) data, sampled in the near-Sun environment, have shown that proton heating is concentrated near coherent structures, suggesting local heating of protons by turbulent cascade in this region. However, whether electrons exhibit similar behavior in the near-Sun environment is not clear. Here, we address this question using PSP data collected near the Sun during the first seven orbits. We use the partial variance of incre…
Parker Solar Probe Observations of Preferential Heating of Protons over Alpha Particles near Turbulent Coherent Structures
Yunnan University（云南大学）；University College London（伦敦大学学院）；Mullard Space Science Laboratory, University College London（穆拉德空间科学实验室，伦敦大学学院）；University of Delaware（特拉华大学）；CNR, Institute for Plasma Science and Technology (ISTP)（意大利国家研究委员会等离子科学与技术研究所（ISTP））；KTH - Royal Institute of Technology（瑞典皇家理工学院）；China University of Petroleum (East China)（中国石油大学（华东））；State Key Laboratory of Deep Oil and Gas, China University of Petroleum (East China)（中国石油大学（华东）深油气资源与地质国家重点实验室）；Beihang University（北京航空航天大学）；National Institute of Natural Hazards, Ministry of Emergency Management of China（中国应急管理部自然灾害防治研究院）；National University of Defense Technology（国防科技大学）
The spatial diffusion of cosmic rays in turbulent magnetic fields can, in the most general case, be fully anisotropic, i.e. one has to distinguish three diffusion axes in a local, field-aligned frame. We reexamine the transformation for the diffusion tensor from this local to a global frame, in which the Parker transport equation for energetic particles is usually formulated and solved. Particularly, we generalize the transformation formulas to allow for an explicit choice of two principal local perpendicular diffusion axes. This generalization includes the 'traditional' diffusion tensor in th…
The turbulent magnetic fields of a large set of fast solar wind streams measured onboard ACE and STEREO A and B are analyzed in an effort to identify the effects of the turbulence-level broad variations on the orientations of the local, time-averaged magnetic fields. The power level of turbulence, roughly defined as the power in the transverse field fluctuations normalized to the medium-scale average background field, tightly orders the location of the peaks in the probability distribution functions (PDFs) of the angles between local fields and Parker spiral. As a result, the broad variations …
AIM: Large amplitude narrowband obliquely propagating whistler-mode waves at frequencies of ~0.2 fce (electron cyclotron frequency) are commonly observed at 1 AU, and are most consistent with the whistler heat flux fan instability. We want to determine whether similar whistler-mode waves occur inside 0.2 AU, and how their properties compare to those at 1 AU. METHODS: We utilize the waveform capture data from the Parker Solar Probe Fields instrument to develop a data base of narrowband whistler waves. The SWEAP instrument, in conjunction with the quasi-thermal noise measurement form Fields, pro…
We examine the radial evolution of correlation lengths perpendicular (\(λ_C^{\perp}\)) and parallel (\(λ_C^{\parallel}\)) to the magnetic-field direction, computed from solar wind magnetic-field data measured by Parker Solar Probe (PSP) during its first eight orbits, Helios 1, Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE), WIND, and Voyager 1 spacecraft. Correlation lengths are grouped by an interval's alignment angle; the angle between the magnetic-field and solar wind velocity vectors (\(Θ_{\rm BV}\)). Parallel and perpendicular angular channels correspond to angles \(0^{\circ}~<~Θ_{\rm BV}~<~40^{\cir…
Sunward Streaming 3He-rich SEP Events Observed by Solar Orbiter and Parker Solar Probe during Perihelion Passage
Southwest Research Institute（西南研究所）；Center for Astrophysics—Harvard & Smithsonian（天体物理学中心——哈佛与史密森尼学会）；Space Radiation Laboratory, California Institute of Technology（加州理工学院空间辐射实验室）；Applied Physics Laboratory, Johns Hopkins University（约翰斯·霍普金斯大学应用物理实验室）；The University of Texas at San Antonio（得克萨斯大学圣安东尼奥分校）
We propose a model for interpreting highly variable ion composition ratios in solar energetic particles (SEP) events recently observed by Parker Solar Probe (PSP) at $0.3 - 0.45$ astronomical unit. We use numerical simulations to calculate SEP propagation in a turbulent interplanetary magnetic field with a Kolmogorov power spectrum from large scale down to the gyration scale of energetic particles. We show that when the source regions of different species are offset by a distance comparable to the size of the source regions, the observed energetic particle composition He/H can be strongly vari…
The Parker Solar Probe (PSP) spacecraft has flown into the most dense and previously unexplored region of our solar system's zodiacal cloud. While PSP does not have a dedicated dust detector, multiple instruments onboard are sensitive to the effects of meteoroid bombardment. Here, we discuss measurements taken during PSP's first two orbits and compare them to models of the zodiacal cloud's dust distribution. Comparing the radial impact rate trends and the timing and location of a dust impact to an energetic particle detector, we find the impactor population to be consistent with dust grains on…
Recent observations have shown that coronal shocks driven by coronal mass ejections can develop and accelerate particles within several solar radii in large solar energetic particle (SEP) events. Motivated by this, we present an SEP acceleration study including the process that a fast shock propagates through a streamer-like magnetic field with both closed and open field lines in the low corona region. The acceleration of protons is modeled by numerically solving the Parker transport equation with spatial diffusion both along and across the magnetic field. We show that particles can be suffici…
The transport of charged energetic particles in the presence of strong intermittent heliospheric turbulence is computationally analyzed based on known properties of the interplanetary magnetic field and solar wind plasma at 1 Astronomical Unit (AU). The turbulence is assumed to be static, composite, and quasi-three-dimensional with a varying energy distribution between a one-dimensional Alfvénic (slab) and a structured two-dimensional component. The spatial fluctuations of the turbulent magnetic field are modeled either as homogeneous with a Gaussian probability distribution function (PDF), or…
The first-year results from the Parker Solar Probe (PSP) reveal a gradual decrease of F-coronal dust from distances of $D=0.166-0.336$ AU (or the inner elongations of $\sim 9.22- 18.69~R_{\odot}$) to the Sun (Howard et al. 2019). Such a F-corona decrease cannot be explained by the dust sublimation scenario of the popular silicate composition that implies a dust-free-zone of boundary at heliocentric radius $R\lesssim 4-5R_{\odot}$, but may be explained by appealing to various dust compositions with different sublimation fronts. In this paper, we present an additional explanation for the F-coron…
We present observations of >10-100 keV/nucleon suprathermal (ST) H, He, O, and Fe ions associated with crossings of the heliospheric current sheet (HCS) at radial distances <0.1 au from the Sun. Our key findings are: 1) very few heavy ions are detected during the 1st full crossing, the heavy ion intensities are reduced during the 2nd partial crossing and peak just after the 2nd crossing; 2) ion arrival times exhibit no velocity dispersion; 3) He pitch-angle distributions track the magnetic field polarity reversal and show up to ~10:1 anti-sunward, field-aligned flows and beams closer to the HC…
Type III radio bursts are the result of plasma emission from mildly relativistic electron beams propagating from the low solar corona into the heliosphere where they can eventually be detected in situ if they align with the location of a heliospheric spacecraft. Here we observe a type III radio burst from 0.1-16 MHz using the Parker Solar Probe (PSP) FIELDS Radio Frequency Spectrometer (RFS), and from 20-80 MHz using the Low Frequency Array (LOFAR). This event was not associated with any detectable flare activity but was part of an ongoing type III and noise storm that occurred during PSP enco…
We report the result of the first search for multipoint in situ and imaging observations of interplanetary coronal mass ejections (ICMEs) starting with the first Solar Orbiter (SolO) data in 2020 April - 2021 April. A data exploration analysis is performed including visualizations of the magnetic field and plasma observations made by the five spacecraft SolO, BepiColombo, Parker Solar Probe (PSP), Wind and STEREO-A, in connection with coronagraph and heliospheric imaging observations from STEREO-A/SECCHI and SOHO/LASCO. We identify ICME events that could be unambiguously followed with the STER…
The event-averaged charge state of heavy ion Solar Energetic Particles (SEPs), measured at 1 AU from the Sun, typically increases with the ions' kinetic energy. The origin of this behaviour has been ascribed to processes taking place within the acceleration region. In this paper we study the propagation through interplanetary space of SEP Fe ions, injected near the Sun with a variety of charge states that are uniformly distributed in energy, by means of a 3D test particle model. In our simulations, due to gradient and curvature drifts associated with the Parker spiral magnetic field, ions of d…
We investigate the deceleration of Solar Energetic Particles (SEPs) during their propagation from the Sun through interplanetary space, in the presence of weak to strong scattering in a Parker spiral configuration, using relativistic full orbit test particle simulations. The calculations retain all three spatial variables describing particles' trajectories, allowing to model any transport across the magnetic field. Large energy change is shown to occur for protons, due to the combined effect of standard adiabatic deceleration and a significant contribution from particle drift in the direction …
Solar wind magnetic fluctuations exhibit anisotropy due to the presence of a mean magnetic field in the form of the Parker spiral. Close to the Sun, direct measurements were not available until the recently launched Parker Solar Probe (PSP) mission. The nature of anisotropy and geometry of the magnetic fluctuations play a fundamental role in dissipation processes and in the transport of energetic particles in space. Using PSP data, we present measurements of geometry and anisotropy of the inner heliosphere magnetic fluctuations, from fluid to kinetic scales. The results are surprising and diff…
We studied the properties and occurrence of narrow band whistler waves and their interaction with strahl electrons observed between 0.17 and 0.26 au during the first encounter of Parker Solar Probe. We observe that occurrence of whistler waves is low, nearly 1.5% and less than 0.5% in the analyzed peak and average BPF data respectively. Whistlers occur highly intermittently and 80% of the whistlers appear continuously for less than 3 s. Occurrence rate of whistler waves was found to be anti-correlated with the solar wind bulk velocity. The study of the duration of the whistler intervals reveal…
The acceleration of charged particles by interplanetary shocks (IPs) can drain a non-negligible fraction of the plasma pressure. In this study, we have selected 17 IPs observed in-situ at $1\,\text{au}$ by the Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE) and the Wind spacecraft, and 1 shock at $0.8\,\text{au}$ observed by Parker Solar Probe (PSP). We have calculated the time-dependent partial pressure of supra-thermal and energetic particles (smaller and greater than $50\,\text{keV}$ for protons and $30\,\text{keV}$ for electrons, respectively) in both the upstream and downstream regions. The particle …
A series of solar energetic particle (SEP) events were observed at Parker Solar Probe (PSP) by the Integrated Science Investigation of the Sun (\ISOIS) during the period from April 18, 2019 through April 24, 2019. The PSP spacecraft was located near 0.48 au from the Sun on Parker spiral field lines that projected out to 1 au within $\sim 25^\circ$ of near Earth spacecraft. These SEP events, though small compared to historically large SEP events, were amongst the largest observed thus far in the PSP mission and provide critical information about the space environment inside 1 au during SEP even…
