PARTICLE ENERGY SPECTRA AT TRAVELING INTERPLANETARY SHOCK WAVES

We have searched for evidence of significant shock acceleration of He ions of ∼1–10 MeV amu−1 in situ at 258 interplanetary traveling shock waves observed by the Wind spacecraft. We find that the probability of observing significant acceleration, and the particle intensity observed, depends strongly upon the shock speed and less strongly upon the shock compression ratio. For most of the 39 fast shocks with significant acceleration, the observed spectral index agrees with either that calculated from the shock compression ratio or with the spectral index of the upstream background, when the latter spectrum is harder, as expected from diffusive shock theory. In many events the spectra are observed to roll downward at higher energies, as expected from Ellison–Ramaty and from Lee shock-acceleration theories. The dearth of acceleration at ∼85% of the shocks is explained by (1) a low shock speed, (2) a low shock compression ratio, and (3) a low value of the shock-normal angle with the magnetic field, which may cause the energy spectra that roll downward at energies below our observational threshold. Quasi-parallel shock waves are rarely able to produce measurable acceleration at 1 AU. The dependence of intensity on shock speed, seen here at local shocks, mirrors the dependence found previously for the peak intensities in large solar energetic-particle events upon speeds of the associated coronal mass ejections which drive the shocks.

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