INTERACTION BETWEEN TWO CORONAL MASS EJECTIONS IN THE 2013 MAY 22 LARGE SOLAR ENERGETIC PARTICLE EVENT

Journal Article · Wed Oct 01 04:00:00 EDT 2014 · Astrophysical Journal Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1088/2041-8205/793/2/L35· OSTI ID:22364964

Ding, Liu-Guan; Xu, Fei; Gu, Bin; Zhang, Ya-Nan ^[1]; Li, Gang ^[2]; Jiang, Yong ^[3]; Le, Gui-Ming ^[4]; Shen, Cheng-Long; Wang, Yu-Ming ^[5]; Chen, Yao ^[6]

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1. School of Physics and Optoelectronic Engineering, Institute of Space Weather, Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, Nanjing 210044 (China)
2. Department of Space Science and CSPAR, University of Alabama in Huntsville, Huntsville, AL 35899 (United States)
3. College of Math and Statistics, Institute of Space Weather, Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, Nanjing 210044 (China)
4. National Center for Space Weather, China Meteorological Administration, Beijing 100081 (China)
5. CAS Key Laboratory of Geospace Environment, Department of Geophysics and Planetary Sciences, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230026 (China)
6. Institute of Space Sciences and School of Space Science and Physics, Shandong University, Weihai, Shandong 264209 (China)

We investigate the eruption and interaction of two coronal mass ejections (CMEs) during the large 2013 May 22 solar energetic particle event using multiple spacecraft observations. Two CMEs, having similar propagation directions, were found to erupt from two nearby active regions (ARs), AR11748 and AR11745, at ∼08:48 UT and ∼13:25 UT, respectively. The second CME was faster than the first CME. Using the graduated cylindrical shell model, we reconstructed the propagation of these two CMEs and found that the leading edge of the second CME caught up with the trailing edge of the first CME at a height of ∼6 solar radii. After about two hours, the leading edges of the two CMEs merged at a height of ∼20 solar radii. Type II solar radio bursts showed strong enhancement during this two hour period. Using the velocity dispersion method, we obtained the solar particle release (SPR) time and the path length for energetic electrons. Further assuming that energetic protons propagated along the same interplanetary magnetic field, we also obtained the SPR time for energetic protons, which were close to that of electrons. These release times agreed with the time when the second CME caught up with the trailing edge of the first CME, indicating that the CME-CME interaction (and shock-CME interaction) plays an important role in the process of particle acceleration in this event.

• OSTI ID: 22364964
• Journal Information: Astrophysical Journal Letters, Journal Name: Astrophysical Journal Letters Journal Issue: 2 Vol. 793; ISSN 2041-8205
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS
ACCELERATION
CYLINDRICAL CONFIGURATION
ERUPTION
INTERPLANETARY MAGNETIC FIELDS
MASS
SOLAR CORONA
SOLAR PROTONS
SOLAR RADIO BURSTS
SUN
VELOCITY