Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: Context. On 2022 January 20, the Energetic Particle Detector (EPD) on board Solar Orbiter measured a solar energetic particle (SEP) event showing unusual first arriving particles from the anti-Sun direction. Near-Earth spacecraft separated by 17 in longitude to the west of Solar Orbiter measured classic anti-sunward-directed fluxes. STEREO-A and MAVEN, separated by 18 to the east and by 143 to the west of Solar Orbiter, respectively, also observed the event, suggesting that particles spread over at least 160 in the heliosphere. Aims. The aim of the present study is to investigate how SEPs are accelerated and transported towards Solar Orbiter and near-Earth spacecraft, as well as to examine the influence of a magnetic cloud (MC) present in the heliosphere at the time of the event onset on the propagation of energetic particles. Methods. We analysed remote-sensing data, including flare, coronal mass ejection (CME), and radio emission to identify the parent solar source of the event. We investigated energetic particles, solar wind plasma, and magnetic field data from multiple spacecraft. Results. Solar Orbiter was embedded in a MC erupting on 16 January from the same active region as that related to the SEP event on 20 January. The SEP event is related to a M5.5 flare and a fast CME-driven shock of ∼1433 km s-1, which accelerated and injected particles within and outside the MC. Taken together, the hard SEP spectra, the presence of a Type II radio burst, and the co-temporal Type III radio burst being observed from 80 MHz that appears to emanate from the Type II burst, suggest that the shock is likely the main accelerator of the particles. Conclusions. Our detailed analysis of the SEP event strongly suggests that the energetic particles are mainly accelerated by a CME-driven shock and are injected into and outside of a previous MC present in the heliosphere at the time of the particle onset. The sunward-propagating SEPs measured by Solar Orbiter are produced by the injection of particles along the longer (western) leg of the MC still connected to the Sun at the time of the release of the particles. The determined electron propagation path length inside the MC is around 30% longer than the estimated length of the loop leg of the MC itself (based on the graduated cylindrical shell model), which is consistent with the low number of field line rotations.
Authors: Rodriguez-Garcia, L, Gomez-Herrero, R, Dresing, N, Balmaceda, LA, Palmerio, E, Kouloumvakos, A, Jebaraj, IC, Espinosa Lara, F, Roco, M, Palmroos, C, Warmuth, A, Nicolaou, G, Mason, GM, Guo, J, Laitinen, T, Cernuda, I, Nieves-Chinchilla, T, Fedeli, A, Lee, CO, Cohen, CMS, Owen, CJ, Ho, GC, Malandraki, O, Vainio, R, Rodriguez-Pacheco, J
Institutions: Universidad de Alcalá, European Space Agency, European Space Astronomy Centre, University of Turku, Goddard Space Flight Center, George Mason University, Heliophysics Science Division, Predictive Science (United States), Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics Potsdam, University College London, University of Science and Technology of China, Deep Space Exploration Laboratory, University of Lancashire, Space Sciences Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley, National Observatory of Athens, Institute for Astronomy, Astrophysics, Space Applications and Remote Sensing
Language: English
Subfield: Astronomy and Astrophysics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
Funders: National Aeronautics and Space Administration, George Mason University, Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades, European Space Agency, European Commission, National Natural Science Foundation of China, Nuclear Safety and Security Commission, Goddard Space Flight Center, HORIZON EUROPE Framework Programme, Science and Technology Facilities Council, Agencia Estatal de Investigación
Awards: G1216115535, Solar EneRgetic ParticlE aNalysis plaTform for the INner hEliosphere, G1580166951, Consolidated Solar and Heliospheric Physics Research at UCLan, G1771700275, G2262748287, G2843995618, G3480869486, G3518781203, G3681454997, G4042783231, G425668148, G434337789, G4443436240, Energetic Solar Eruptions: Data and Analysis Tools, G4810042615, G492110738, G5555131222, G5807215605, G5861072732, G595697170, G5966779717, G6008641848, G7084143925, Explaining circumsolar Solar Energetic Particle events, G7863371703, G8497050386, G8684520763, G8687263898, G8877241450
OpenAlex ID: W7043470969
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