Relativistic solar electrons: where and how are their distributions formed?

摘要

Observations of electron distribution functions with power law at high energies and with elongated tails are common in space plasmas. Since the relativistic electrons, emanating from the solar corona measured at 1 AU are seen generally delayed vs the less energetic type-III beams, the correlation of their temporal and spatial emergence with other observed processes, the location of the energization sites, and the relation of the observed energetic distributions to acceleration mechanisms are of major importance in solar and heliospheric research. It is conjectured that the delayed electrons are energized along the stretched post-CME coronal field lines, when the tail of an anisotropic seed population, which is injected in conjunction to the observed radioheliograph bursts interacts with the self–excited whistler waves. The relativistic electron fluxes are not affected directly neither by flares nor by CMEs, but require post CME coronal bursts. The observed particle distributions are determined by the interaction probability density function (pdf), whose higher moments diverge with increasing wave amplitude, resulting in a non-asymptotic broken power-laws.