Document Type

Article

Publication Title

The Astrophysical Journal

Abstract

Using high-sensitivity instruments on the ACE spacecraft, we have examined the intensities of O and Fe in 14 large solar energetic particleevents whose parent activity was in the solar western hemisphere. Sampling the intensities at low (∼273 keV nucleonˉ¹) and high (∼12 MeV nucleonˉ¹) energies, we find that at the same kinetic energy per nucleon, the Fe/O ratio decreases with time, as has been reported previously. This behavior is seen in more than 70% of the cases during the rise to maximum intensity and continues in most cases into the decay phase. We find that for most events if we compare the Fe intensity with the O intensity at a higher kinetic energy per nucleon, the two time-intensity profiles are strikingly similar. Examining alternate scenarios that could produce this behavior, we conclude that for events showing this behavior the most likely explanation is that the Fe and O share similar injection profiles near the Sun, and that scattering in the interplanetary medium dominates the profiles observed at 1 AU.

DOI

10.1086/507469

Publication Date

8-10-2006

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