Sources of efficient acceleration of solar flare particles: Observational aspects

This work continues earlier statistical analyses of catalogued proton events in cosmic rays. The spectra of proton enhancements identified from the logarithm of the ratio of the proton fluxes with energies exceeding 100 and 10 MeV, δ = log(F ₁₀₀/F ₁₀), are studied focusing on 172 powerful events with favorable conditions for escaping from the corona and subsequent propagation in the interplanetary space. The δ distribution for the flares is Gaussian, with a comparatively weak spread in δ. The distribution maximum corresponds to an excess of the 10 MeV flux over the 100 MeV flux by a factor of 30. The fact such a frequent spectrum does exist supports the idea that both soft and hard protons are efficiently accelerated, probably by a single mechanism that operates during the explosive phases of the flares. The sizes of the loops of M2-X4 flares observed by the Yohkoh Hard X-Ray Telescope at energies exceeding 50 keV indicate low heights for the main acceleration regions. There is some excess over the Gaussian distribution for “softer” events. Some post-eruptive phenomena can be clearly distinguished in these events, and they display a correlation between δ and the total flare duration. Thus, there are two sources of the particle acceleration operating at low and high altitudes during the explosive and post-eruptive phases of the solar flares, respectively. The second source, which is manifested through some prolonged flares and filament-ejection phenomena, accelerates protons only to energies of 10–30 MeV.