Particle Acceleration by Magnetic Reconnection in Impulsive and Gradual Solar Flares

University Of New Hampshire, Durham NH

Investigators

Abstract

The investigators will determine the energy distribution of test particles accelerated in various magnetic field reconnection geometries. This will be achieved by integrating the particle equations of motion in specified analytic and numerical solutions of the magnetohydrodynamic equations. From these detailed computations, scaling laws for solar energetic particle (SEP) events will be derived, and subsequently compared with observations from the High Energy Solar Spectroscopic Imager (HESSI) satellite. The major goal of this effort is to develop a testable model capable of explaining how and why different reconnection configurations produce different acceleration regimes, ranging from prompt electron acceleration to gamma-ray energies to proton acceleration to GeV energies in large gradual flares. This work promises to provide critical new insight on to SEP events, which are a prominent component of Space Weather.