Abstract
Energetic particles accelerated in the atmosphere of the Sun bear the imprint of all the properties of the environment where acceleration takes place, and of all the processes in which they begin to participate. For example, the elemental composition and energy spectrum of SCR reflect, respectively, the composition of the solar atmosphere and the features of the acceleration mechanisms. Further, in addition to energy losses in ionization collisions with atmospheric matter, accelerated particles lose energy to generate various kinds of electromagnetic waves—from nuclear gamma radiation to kilometer-long radio waves. At the same time, due to the difference in the masses of electrons and ions, the nature and rate of their energy losses are completely different. Electrons lose energy mainly for the ionization of the medium and the generation of bremsstrahlung X-ray and synchrotron radio emission, while protons, in addition to ionization, participate mainly in nuclear interactions at the level of the chromosphere and photosphere, where many secondary particles are born (neutrons, positrons, pions, etc.), and also the generation of solar gamma radiation occurs.
Historically, the first (as early as 1942) was discovered flare radio emission. This discovery was the first indirect evidence of the acceleration of particles (electrons) to high energies. Subsequently, ground-based observations of solar radio emission became one of the best methods for diagnosing solar plasma. At the same time, the theoretically long expected theoretically solar gamma radiation, indicating the presence of accelerated ions (protons), was first reliably recorded only 30 years later, during powerful flares in August 1972, thanks to extra-atmospheric satellite measurements. Below is a brief description of the current state of solar gamma-ray astronomy and an overview of its possible astrophysical applications.
We have a theory for everything we can’t resolve with a telescope.
Eugene N. Parker, University of Chicago, Spring 2002 AAS Meeting
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Miroshnichenko, L. (2023). Accelerated Particles in the Solar Atmosphere. In: Solar-Terrestrial Relations. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-22548-2_8
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