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Quasiperiodic acceleration of electrons by a plasmoid-driven shock in the solar atmosphere

Nature Physics volume 9, pages 811–816 (2013)Cite this article

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Abstract

Cosmic rays and solar energetic particles may be accelerated to relativistic energies by shock waves in astrophysical plasmas. On the Sun, shocks and particle acceleration are often associated with the eruption of magnetized plasmoids, called coronal mass ejections (CMEs). However, the physical relationship between CMEs and shock particle acceleration is not well understood. Here, we use extreme ultraviolet, radio and white-light imaging of a solar eruptive event on 22 September 2011 to show that a CME-induced shock (Alfvén Mach number ) was coincident with a coronal wave and an intense metric radio burst generated by intermittent acceleration of electrons to kinetic energies of 2–46 keV (0.1–0.4 c). Our observations show that plasmoid-driven quasiperpendicular shocks are capable of producing quasiperiodic acceleration of electrons, an effect consistent with a turbulent or rippled plasma shock surface.

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Figure 1: AIA 21.1 nm images over-plotted with NRH 150.9 MHz contours.
Figure 2: Position angle (degrees anticlockwise from solar north) versus time for the 150 MHz source, shown in plus signs, and CBF at 1 R⊙ (circles) and 1.27 R⊙ (diamonds).
Figure 3: Radio dynamic spectra from STEREO-B/WAVES (0.01–16 MHz), Nançay DA (20–90 MHz) and RSTO eCallisto (10–400 MHz).
Figure 4: White-light CME observations and 3D reconstruction of the CME front.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank NASA’s SDO, STEREO and ESA/NASA’s SOHO teams, and the Nançay Radio Astronomy Observatory for providing open access to their data. Financial support of E.P.C. was provided by the Irish Research Council Embark Initiative. D.M.L. is financially supported by the European Commission’s Seventh Framework Programme under the grant agreement No. 284461 (eHEROES project). J.P.B. is supported by SHINE grant 0962716 and NASA grants NNX08AJ07G and NNX13AG11G to the Institute for Astronomy. P.Z. is financially supported at present under the Trinity College Dublin Innovation Academy Bursary. D.S.B. is financially supported under the ESA PRODEX programme. We would also like to extend thanks to the Birr Scientific and Heritage Foundation, supported by the Earl of Rosse. Special thanks is extended to C. Monstein for his support in setting up the Callisto spectrometers and J. Magdalenić for very useful scientific discussions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Astrophysics Research Group, School of Physics, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 2, Ireland

    Eoin P. Carley, Pietro Zucca, D. Shaun Bloomfield, Joseph McCauley & Peter T. Gallagher

  2. Mullard Space Science Laboratory, University College London, Holmbury St. Mary, Dorking RH5 6NT, UK

    David M. Long

  3. Institute for Astronomy, University of Hawai’i, 2680 Woodlawn Drive, Honolulu, Hawaii 96822, USA

    Jason P. Byrne

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Contributions

E.P.C. performed the data analysis of the radio source kinematics, the radio burst analysis, the Alfvén Mach number calculations, and the in situ particle analysis. E.P.C. also wrote the article. D.M.L. performed the data analysis of the coronal bright front and gave constructive advice on the writing of the article. J.P.B. performed the 3D reconstruction of the CME and gave advice on the white-light shock analysis section. P.Z. provided the density maps, and D.S.B. provided the magnetic field maps that were used in the radio source and CBF Mach number calculations. J.M. installed the electronic systems at RSTO. P.T.G. conceived of the project and guided data analysis and writing of the article.

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Correspondence to Peter T. Gallagher.

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Carley, E., Long, D., Byrne, J. et al. Quasiperiodic acceleration of electrons by a plasmoid-driven shock in the solar atmosphere. Nature Phys 9, 811–816 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/nphys2767

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