Shock and SEP Modeling Study for the 2022 September 5 SEP Event

Abstract

On 2022 September 5, during Parker Solar Probe's (PSP) 13th encounter, a fast shock wave and a related solar energetic particle (SEP) event were observed as the spacecraft approached the perihelion of its orbit. Observations from the Integrated Science Investigation of the Sun (IS⊙IS) instrument suite show that SEPs arrived at the spacecraft with a significant delay from the onset of the parent solar eruption and that the first arriving SEPs exhibited an inverse velocity dispersion (IVD) for energetic protons above ~1 MeV. Utilizing data from multiple spacecraft, we investigate the eruption dynamics and shock wave propagation. Our analysis includes 3D shock modeling and SEP transport simulations to examine the origins of this SEP event and explore the causes of the delayed SEP onset and the observed IVD. The data-driven SEP simulation reproduces the SEP event onset observed at PSP, its evolving energy spectrum, and the IVD. This IVD is attributed to a relatively slow, ongoing particle acceleration process occurring at the flank of the expanding shock wave intercepted by PSP. This has significant implications for the role of shocks in the release of SEPs at widespread events and for methods used to infer the SEP release times. Furthermore, the match between the simulation and observations worsens when cross-field diffusion is considered, indicating that SEP diffusion had a minor effect on this event. These findings underscore the complexity of SEP events and emphasize the need for advanced modeling approaches to better understand the role of shock waves and other physical processes in SEP acceleration and release.