Nuclear processes and accelerated particles in solar flares

A detailed review of nuclear processes and particle acceleration in solar flares has been completed recently (Ramaty and Murphy, 1987). Included in this review were a comprehensive discussion of the theory of gamma-ray and neutron production, as well as the results of comparisons of calculations with gamma-ray, neutron and charged-particle observations of solar flares. The implications of these comparisons on particle energy spectra, total numbers, anisotropies and electron-to-proton ratios, as well as on acceleration mechanisms and the interaction site were also discussed. In addition, elemental and isotopic abundances of the ambient gas, derived from gamma-ray observations, were compared to abundances obtained from observations of escaping accelerated particles and other sources. The present paper is a synopsis of this review