HR: 17:10h
AN: SH22C-05    [PDF]
TI: Are Solar Electron Burst Acceleration Sites Highly Localized?
AU: * Gosling, J T
EM: jgosling@lanl.gov
AF: Los Alamos National Laboratory, MS D466, Los Alamos, NM 87545 United States
AU: Skoug, R M
EM: rskoug@lanl.gov
AF: Los Alamos National Laboratory, MS D466, Los Alamos, NM 87545 United States
AU: Steinberg, J T
EM: jsteinberg@lanl.gov
AF: Los Alamos National Laboratory, MS D466, Los Alamos, NM 87545 United States
AU: McComas, D J
EM: DMcComas@swri.edu
AF: Southwest Research Institute, P.O. Drawer 28510, San Antonio, TX 78228-0510 United States
AB: More than 300 solar electron bursts have been observed at energies below 1.4 keV by the SWEPAM experiment on ACE. All of these bursts are strongly beamed outward along the heliospheric magnetic field. In addition, a backscattered component is also commonly present. A large fraction of these bursts are closely associated with type III radio bursts that extend down in frequency close to the local plasma frequency. Electron burst durations range from about 1 to greater than 30 hrs. Burst beam intensity-time profiles below 1.4 keV usually are relatively smooth and structureless at all energies, although notable exceptions to this rule occur. In contrast, impulsive solar energetic ion events commonly contain significant dispersionless (in energy) temporal structure. That structure has been interpreted as evidence that heliospheric field lines are commonly braided and that the ion acceleration site at the Sun is spatially localized. One possible interpretation of the SWEPAM electron measurements is that the electron burst acceleration sites typically are considerably less spatially localized than are the impulsive ion acceleration sites.
DE: 2114 Energetic particles, heliospheric (7514)
DE: 2118 Energetic particles, solar
DE: 7514 Energetic particles (2114)
DE: 7534 Radio emissions
SC: SPA - Solar and Heliospheric Physics [SH]
MN: 2003 Fall Meeting