Abstract
OBSERVATIONS of γ rays and the short lived isotope 3H provide evidence for the occurrence of nuclear reactions by high energy particles accelerated in solar flares1,2. Stable isotopes such as 2H and 3He should also be produced in these reactions. Solar 3He particles were first detected by Hsieh and Simpson3. In the energy range 10 to 100 MeV per nucleon they obtained 3He/4He = (2.1±0.4) × 10−2 by summing over seven solar particle events. Garrard et al.4 and Anglin et al.5 have reported that 3He/4He was highly variable from event to event. (Table 1). In the ‘3He-rich events’, 2H and 3H were not detected and the resulting upper limits were much less than expected from the theory of nuclear reactions6. These events were small, and the number of 3He particles observed was low (∼ 70). This anomalous production of 3He should provide new insight into the acceleration and confinement process of energetic particles in solar flares.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 51 print issues and online access
$199.00 per year
only $3.90 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Anglin, J. D., Dietrich, W. F., and Simpson, J. A., Astrophys. J. Lett., 186, L4 (1973).
Chupp, E. L., Forrest, D. J., Higbie, P. R., Suri, A. N., Tsai, C., and Dunphy, P. P., Nature, 241, 333 (1973).
Hsieh, K. C., and Simpson, J. A., Astrophys. J. Lett., 162, L191 (1970).
Garrard, T. L., Stone, E. C., and Vogt, R. E., in High Energy Phenomena on the Sun, Symposium Proceedings (edit. by Ramaty, R., and Stone, R. G.), 341, (NASA, 1973).
Anglin, J. D., Dietrich, W. F., and Simpson, J. A., in High Energy Phenomena on the Sun, Symposium Proceedings (edit. by Ramaty, R., and Stone, R. G.), 315, (NASA, 1973).
Lingenfelter, R. E., and Ramaty, R., High Energy Nuclear Reactions in Astrophysics (edit. by Shen, B. S. P.), 99, Benjamin, New York, (1967).
Teegarden, B., McDonald, F. B., and Balasubrahmanyan, V. K., Acta phys. Acad. Sci. Hung., 29, Suppl. 345 (1970).
Dietrich, W. F., Astrophys. J. Lett., 180, 955 (1973).
Namba, O., Astrophys. J., 141, 827 (1965).
Bame, S. J., Hundhausen, A. J., Asbridge, J. R., and Strong, I. B., Phys. Rev. Lett., 20, 393 (1968).
Geiss, J., Eberhardt, P., Buhler, F., Meister, J., and Signer, P., J. geophys. Res., 75, 5972 (1970).
Hirayama, T., Solar Phys., 19, 384 (1971).
Ramaty, R., and Kozlovsky, B., Astrophys. J. (in the press).
Webber, W. R., Roelof, E. C., McDonald, F. B., Teegarden, B. J., and Trainor, J., Proc. 13th int. Conf. Cosmic Rays., 2, 1516 (Denver, 1974).
Anglin, J. D., Simpson, J. A., and Zamow, R., Bull. Am. phys. Soc., 19, 457 (1974).
Lanzerotti, L. J., and Maclennan, C. C., J. geophys. Res., 78, 3935 (1973).
Hirshberg, J., Asbridge, J. R., and Robbins, D. E., J. geophys. Res., 75, 1 (1972).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
BALASUBRAHMANYAN, V., SERLEMITSOS, A. Solar energetic particle event with 3He/4He>1. Nature 252, 460–462 (1974). https://doi.org/10.1038/252460b0
Received:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/252460b0
This article is cited by
-
Space Weather: Physics, Effects and Predictability
Surveys in Geophysics (2010)
-
Solar Energetic Particle Charge States: An Overview
Space Science Reviews (2007)
-
Energetic Particle Observations
Space Science Reviews (2006)
Comments
By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.