Inverse Velocity Dispersion of Solar Energetic Protons Observed by Solar Orbiter and Its Shock Acceleration Explanation

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Hauptverfasser: Li, Yuncong, Guo, Jingnan, Pacheco, Daniel, Wang, Yuming, Temmer, Manuela, Ding, Zheyi, Wimmer-Schweingruber, Robert F.
Format: Preprint
Veröffentlicht: 2025
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author Li, Yuncong
Guo, Jingnan
Pacheco, Daniel
Wang, Yuming
Temmer, Manuela
Ding, Zheyi
Wimmer-Schweingruber, Robert F.
author_facet Li, Yuncong
Guo, Jingnan
Pacheco, Daniel
Wang, Yuming
Temmer, Manuela
Ding, Zheyi
Wimmer-Schweingruber, Robert F.
contents The particle acceleration and transport process during solar eruptions is one of the critical and long-standing problems in space plasma physics. Through decades of research, it is well accepted that particles with higher energies released during a solar eruption arrive at observers earlier than the particles with lower energies, forming a well-known structure in the dynamic energy spectrum called particle velocity dispersion (VD), as frequently observed by space missions. However, this picture is challenged by new observations from NASA's Parker Solar Probe and ESA's Solar Orbiter which show an unexpected inverse velocity dispersion (IVD) phenomenon, where particles with higher-energies arrive later at the observer. Facing on the challenge, we here report the recent discovery of such IVD structures with 10 solar energetic proton events observed by Solar Orbiter, and then analyze the mechanisms causing this unusual phenomenon. We suggest that shock diffusive acceleration, with respect to magnetic reconnection, is probably a dominant mechanism to accelerate protons to tens of MeV in such events where particles need longer time to reach higher energies. And we determine, innovatively, the physical conditions and time scales during the actual shock acceleration process that cannot be observed directly.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2507_00954
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Inverse Velocity Dispersion of Solar Energetic Protons Observed by Solar Orbiter and Its Shock Acceleration Explanation
Li, Yuncong
Guo, Jingnan
Pacheco, Daniel
Wang, Yuming
Temmer, Manuela
Ding, Zheyi
Wimmer-Schweingruber, Robert F.
Solar and Stellar Astrophysics
Plasma Physics
Space Physics
The particle acceleration and transport process during solar eruptions is one of the critical and long-standing problems in space plasma physics. Through decades of research, it is well accepted that particles with higher energies released during a solar eruption arrive at observers earlier than the particles with lower energies, forming a well-known structure in the dynamic energy spectrum called particle velocity dispersion (VD), as frequently observed by space missions. However, this picture is challenged by new observations from NASA's Parker Solar Probe and ESA's Solar Orbiter which show an unexpected inverse velocity dispersion (IVD) phenomenon, where particles with higher-energies arrive later at the observer. Facing on the challenge, we here report the recent discovery of such IVD structures with 10 solar energetic proton events observed by Solar Orbiter, and then analyze the mechanisms causing this unusual phenomenon. We suggest that shock diffusive acceleration, with respect to magnetic reconnection, is probably a dominant mechanism to accelerate protons to tens of MeV in such events where particles need longer time to reach higher energies. And we determine, innovatively, the physical conditions and time scales during the actual shock acceleration process that cannot be observed directly.
title Inverse Velocity Dispersion of Solar Energetic Protons Observed by Solar Orbiter and Its Shock Acceleration Explanation
topic Solar and Stellar Astrophysics
Plasma Physics
Space Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.00954