Sixty Years of Element Abundance Measurements in Solar Energetic Particles

TL;DR

This paper reviews sixty years of measurements of element abundances in solar energetic particles, discussing their origins, acceleration mechanisms, and the implications for understanding solar physics and plasma conditions.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive synthesis of observational data, theoretical insights, and recent advances in understanding the elemental composition and acceleration processes of SEPs over six decades.

Findings

SEP abundances reflect solar corona composition and FIP effects.

Impulsive SEPs show large enhancements in 3He and heavy elements.

Gradual SEPs involve shock acceleration from CMEs, with complex reacceleration processes.

Abstract

Sixty years ago the first observation was published showing solar energetic particles (SEPs) with a sampling of chemical elements. Thus began study of the direct products of dynamic physics in the solar corona. As we have progressed from 4-min sounding-rocket samples to continuous satellite coverage of SEP events, we have extended the observations to the unusual distribution of element abundances throughout the periodic table. Small "impulsive" SEP events from islands of magnetic reconnection on open magnetic-field lines in solar jets generate huge enhancements in abundances of 3He and of the heaviest elements. Solar flares involve the same physics but there the SEPs are trapped on closed loops, expending their energy as heat and light. The larger, energetic "gradual" SEP events are accelerated at shock waves driven by fast, wide coronal mass ejections (CMEs). However, these shocks can also reaccelerate ions from pools of residual suprathermal impulsive ions, and CMEs from jets can also drive fast shocks, complicating the picture. The underlying element abundances in SEP events represent the solar corona, which differs from corresponding abundances in the photosphere as a function of the first ionization potential (FIP) of the elements, distinguishing low-FIP (<10 eV) ions from high-FIP neutral atoms as they expand through the chromosphere. Dependence of SEP acceleration upon A/Q allows best-fit estimation of ion Q-values and hence of the source plasma temperature of ~1 - 3 MK, derived from abundances, which correlates with recent measures of temperatures using extreme ultraviolet emission from jets. New questions arise, however, about the theoretical basis of correlations of energy-spectral indices with power-laws of abundances, about the coexistence of mechanisms for enhancements of 3He and of heavy elements, and about the overall paucity of C in FIP comparisons.