Recent efforts on modeling coronal turbulence transport and shock acceleration self‐consistently are reviewed. The considered models are based on the assumption that the turbulence responsible for the scattering of energetic ions consists of slab‐mode Alfvén waves. A short discussion of the applied wave transport equation and particle transport coefficients is followed by a more extensive review of analytical and numerical modeling results of coupled evolution of energetic particle fluxes and wave intensities.
There are many difficulties associated with forecasting high-energy solar particle events at Earth. One issue is understanding why some large solar eruptive events trigger ground level enhancement (GLE) events and others do not. In this work we perform 3D test particle simulations of a set of historic GLEs to understand more about what causes these powerful events. Particular focus is given to studying how the heliospheric current sheet (HCS) affects high-energy proton transport through the heliosphere following an event. Analysis of $\geq$M7.0 flares between 1976$-$2020 shows that active regions located closer to the HCS ($<$10$^{\circ}$) are more likely to be associated with a GLE event. We found that modelled GLE events where the source region was close to the HCS also led to increased heliospheric transport in longitude and higher count rates (when the Earth was located in the drift direction). In a model that does not include perpendicular diffusion associated with turbulence, the HCS is the dominant mechanism affecting heliospheric particle transport for GLE 42 and 69, and varying other parameters (e.g. a narrow, 10$^{\circ}$, or wider, 60$^{\circ}$, injection width) causes little change. Overall in our model, the HCS is relevant in 71$\%$ of our analysed GLEs and including it more accurately reproduces observed intensities near Earth. Our simulations enable us to produce model profiles at Earth that can be compared to existing observations by the GOES satellites and neutron monitors, as well as for use in developing future forecasting models.
We report on detailed observations by the four Cluster spacecraft of magnetic reconnection and a Flux Transfer Event (FTE) at the magnetopause. We detect cold (eV) plasma at the magnetopause with two independent methods. We show that the cold ions can be essential for the electric field normal to the current sheet in the separatrix region at the edge of the FTE and for the associated acceleration of ions from the magnetosphere into the reconnection jet. The cold ions have small enough gyroradii to drift inside the limited separatrix region and the normal electric field can be balanced by this drift, E ≈ − v × B . The separatrix region also includes cold accelerated electrons, as part of the reconnection current circuit.