Small, Low-energy, Dispersive Solar Energetic Particle Events Observed by Parker Solar Probe

Abstract

The Energetic Particle Instrument-Low Energy (EPI-Lo) experiment has detected several weak, low-energy (similar to 30-300 keV nucleon(-1)) solar energetic particle (SEP) events during its first two closest approaches to the Sun, providing a unique opportunity to explore the sources of low-energy particle acceleration. As part of the Parker Solar Probe (PSP) Integrated Science Investigation of the Sun (IS circle dot IS) suite, EPI-Lo was designed to investigate the physics of energetic particles; however, in the special lowest-energy "time-of-flight only" product used in this study, it also responds to solar photons in a subset of approximately sunward-looking apertures lacking special light-attenuating foils. During the first three perihelia, in a frame rotating with the Sun, PSP undergoes retrograde motion, covering a 17 degrees heliographic longitudinal range three times during the course of the similar to 11-day perihelion passes, permitting a unique spatial and temporal study into the location, correlation, and persistence of previously unmeasurable SEPs. We examine the signatures of these SEPs (during the first PSP perihelion pass only) and the connection to possible solar sources using remote observations from the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO), the Solar TErrestrial RElations Observatory (STEREO), and the ground-based Global Oscillation Network Group (GONG). The orientation of the Sun relative to STEREO, SDO, and GONG makes such identifications challenging, but we do have several candidates, including an equatorial coronal hole at a Carrington longitude of similar to 335 degrees. To analyze observations from EPI-Lo, which is a new type of particle instrument, we examine instrumental effects and provide a preliminary separation of the ion signal from the photon background.