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JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH, VOL. 107, NO. A8, 1191, doi:10.1029/2001JA000305, 2002

The release of near-relativistic electrons from the Sun

I. M. Robinson

School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham, UK


G. M. Simnett

School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham, UK


Abstract

Coronal flares are perhaps the most prolific source of low-energy electrons (2–10 keV) detected in the interplanetary medium and are occasionally seen at higher energies ≥100 keV. We have searched 38–315 keV electron data from the Electron, Proton, and Alpha Monitor (EPAM) on the ACE spacecraft throughout 1998 for such events and focus upon three prolonged bursts of electrons on 5 May 1998. We find that certainly one and probably all three bursts originated in the corona several R⊙ above the photosphere. They were composed of multiple injections of electrons and were possibly quasi-continuously released over almost 24 hours, periodically interrupted at ACE by changes in solar wind speed and magnetic connection to the Sun. We postulate that the presence of seed electrons in the corona from a chromospheric flare 3 days earlier played a role in the acceleration of these electrons to energies of ≥100 keV.

Published 16 August 2002.

Index Terms: 2118 Interplanetary Physics: Energetic particles, solar.

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Citation: Robinson, I. M., and G. M. Simnett (2002), The release of near-relativistic electrons from the Sun, J. Geophys. Res., 107(A8), 1191, doi:10.1029/2001JA000305.