Persistent Energetic Ion Outbursts from the Sun

Abstract:

Following the greatest elongation in 2011, STEREO-A and -B, along with the near-Earth Solar Dynamics Observatory, have provided for the first time a view of the full solar surface. This allows continual tracking of solar active regions for their entire lifetime. With the advantage of a wide angular separation between the two STEREOs and the near-Earth Advanced Composition Explorer, we present the first report of multiple ³He-rich solar energetic particle (SEP) outbursts occurring in single active regions for relatively long time periods, lasting at least a quarter of a solar rotation. We identified several long-lasting ³He- or Fe-rich SEP sources with particle emissions successively observed at least on two of STEREO-B, ACE and STEREO-A spacecraft. Previous single spacecraft observations showed such energetic ion bursts over a limited time interval (about one day) presumably due to the loss of magnetic connection to the flare sites. These new observations reveal that the physical processes responsible for particle acceleration and escape from the Sun appear to be more continuous than previously thought. We discuss conditions in the solar sources which could lead to the reappearance of ³He-rich SEPs by comparing with the cases showing no such feature.