Model for the Energetic Particles Spectrum at Interplanetary Shocks
resulting from Acceleration and Escape sourced by a Preexisting
Population with Power Law Energy Spectrum
Abstract
Charged particles accelerated by interplanetary shocks can escape from
the shock without returning to it. However, the simplest version of the
model of Diffusive Shock Acceleration (DSA) does not include an
energy-dependent escape from the foreshock region. We present a model
for interplanetary shock acceleration that includes such escape and
expands upon DSA. Building off our past research, we analytically solve
a one-dimensional transport equation that includes an escape-time
dependent on both particle position and momentum. In addition to
previous work, we consider the case where a shock encounters a
population of preexisting charged particles with a power law energy
distribution. We find that at lower energies our solution is concave,
whereas at higher energies it asymptotically approaches a power law
whose slope depends on the original energy spectrum’s power law index
and shock parameters. We fitted the solution obtained from this
transport equation to ACE/EPAM shock data measured from multiple shock
events. We also compared the best fit parameters to the predicted
parameter values, with the latter being derived from measured shock
properties. We find that for the shock events considered, our model’s
best fit parameters match very well with the predicted values. From this
model, we can better understand the mechanism of interplanetary shock
acceleration and how this phenomenon energizes charged particles near
other objects such as blazars and supernova remnants. This work is
supported by the NSF-REU solar physics program at SAO, grant number
AGS-1850750. This work is also partially supported by the NSF under
grant 1850774.