CME-associated Energetic Ions at 0.23 au: Consideration of the Auroral Pressure Cooker Mechanism Operating in the Low Corona as a Possible Energization Process

Abstract

We draw a comparison between a solar energetic particle event associated with the release of a slow coronal mass ejection close to the Sun, and the energetic particle population produced in high current density field-aligned current structures associated with auroral phenomena in planetary magnetospheres. We suggest that this process is common in CME development and lift off in the corona, and may account for the electron populations that generate Type III radio bursts, as well as for the prompt energetic ion and electron populations typically observed in interplanetary space.