Anisotropy signatures of solar energetic particle transport in a closed interplanetary magnetic loop

Abstract

Recent studies have stressed the importance of solar energetic particle (SEP) transport under disturbed interplanetary conditions, including the case of detection inside a closed interplanetary magnetic loop ejected by a preceding solar event. In this case, particles might be observed to arrive from the far leg of the loop, thus arriving at the detector while traveling sunward. We perform numerical simulations of the focused transport of SEPs along Archimedean spiral and magnetic loop configurations. For loop configurations, we consider injection along either the near leg or the far leg of the loop, either with or without compression at the leading edge. We show that there are specific anisotropy signatures of transport in a closed magnetic loop configuration. SEPs traveling sunward cannot have a high, sustained anisotropy due to the effect of inverse focusing. As an example, the relativistic SEP event of 2003 October 28 exhibited unusual directional distributions, with an early peak of particle flow ≈120deg; and a main peak ≈80° from the radial direction. However, quantitative fitting of data from the Spaceship Earth network of polar neutron monitors indicates that injection along the far leg of an interplanetary loop is not a good description; our analysis strongly favors transport from the Sun to the Earth over a short path length of ∼1 AU. © 2008. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.