Simulation of the Solar Energetic Particle Event on 2020 May 29 Observed by Parker Solar Probe

TL;DR

This study models a solar energetic particle event from a slow CME on 2020 May 29 using a 3D stochastic simulation, successfully matching observed data from Parker Solar Probe and STEREO-A, and revealing particle acceleration in the low corona.

Contribution

It introduces a data-driven 3D stochastic simulation approach for SEP events driven by slow CMEs, integrating coronal and heliospheric magnetic fields and shock acceleration.

Findings

Simulation results match observed SEP profiles.

SEP acceleration occurred in the low corona by a weak CME shock.

The event was explained without direct magnetic connection to observers.

Abstract

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 2020 May 29, observed by STEREO-A close to 1 au and by Parker Solar Probe (PSP) when it was about 0.33 au away from the Sun. The SEP event was associated with a very slow CME with a plane-of-sky speed of 337 km/s at a height below 6 $\rm R_S$ as reported in the SOHO/LASCO CME catalog. We compute the time profiles of particle flux at PSP and STEREO-A locations, and estimate both the spectral index of the proton energy spectrum for energies between 2 and 16 MeV and the equivalent path length of the magnetic field lines experienced by the first arriving SEPs. We found that the simulation results are well correlated with observations. The SEP event could be explained by the acceleration of particles by a weak CME shock in the low solar corona that is not magnetically connected to the observers.