A comparison of elemental abundance ratios in sep events in fast and slow solar wind regions

Abstract

The solar energetic (E > 1MeV nucleon-1) particles (SEPs) observed in gradual events at 1AU are assumed to be accelerated by coronal/interplanetary shocks from ambient thermal or suprathermal seed particles. If so, then the elemental abundances of SEPs produced in different solar wind (SW) stream types (transient, fast, and slow) might be systematically distinguished from each other. We look for these differences in SEP energy spectra and in elemental abundance ratios (including Mg/Ne and Fe/C, which compare low/high first ionization potential elements), in a large number of SEP time intervals over the past solar cycle. The SW regions are characterized by the three-component stream classification of Richardson etal. Our survey shows no significant compositional or energy spectral differences in the 5-10MeV nucleon-1 range for SEP events of different SW stream types. This result extends the earlier finding that SEP events are observed frequently in fast SW streams, although their higher Alfven and SW flow speeds should constrain SEP production by coronal mass ejection-driven shocks in those regions. We discuss the implications of our results for shock seed populations and cross-field propagation. © 2009 The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.