New Research Reveals Technique To Study Solar Flares, CMEs

Scientists might soon know more about solar storms and coronal mass ejections (CMEs).

A group of scientists at the University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) have recently published a study that reveals a new technique that could uncover more information about the processes that accelerate solar particles to such tremendous speeds.

Dr. Gang Li, a professor in the UAH's Department of Space Science, is leading the group and is the first author of the study in question; it's published in "The Astrophysical Journal."

A Study In Energetic Neutral Atoms

Li's study, titled "Modeling Solar Energetic Neutral Atoms from Solar Flares and CME-driven Shocks," reveals that energetic neutral atoms (ENAs) could be used as a new means to study the acceleration process in large solar energetic particle (SEP) events, per Phys.org.

The new technique Dr. Li's team discovered could also be used to differentiate between the two acceleration sites: large loops in solar flares and downstream of CME-driven shocks.

Dr. Li mentioned in a statement that the study's ultimate goal is to use ENAs to obtain various physics parameters at the acceleration sites, allowing scientists to determine which is more efficient in accelerating particles and which can accelerate particles to higher energies.

As such, the use of ENAs to determine which is which represents a potential new method for supplying answers because they are neutral particles formed from protons from change exchange reactions; magnetic fields don't affect them.

Dr. Li added that observing the sun to answer the questions they have is tough due to the difficulty of taking direct measurements from around the acceleration sites because of solar wind magnetohydrodynamic turbulence (MHD). However, solar wind MHDs don't affect ENAs as they propagate from the sun to observers.

By contrast, the propagation of protons, ions, and electrons from the sun to the Earth is distorted by the solar wind magnetic field because they are charged. As such, ENAs carry all the physics information of the acceleration site, which presents "an entirely new opportunity to constrain the underlying particle acceleration process."

A dedicated ENA detector around Earth could potentially unlock their secrets, despite the distance from the particles' acceleration site - 93 million miles or one astronomical unit. Interstingly, NASA is planning such an instrument as part of its Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe mission, which will be capable of measuring ENAs coming from the sun, per Space.com.

Why Is It Important To Study ENAs?

Studying ENAs is important to understand and may even determine the strength of solar flares and CMEs, which have so much highly energetic plasma gas that could potentially disrupt our daily lives.

Despite these being the cause of the northern and southern lights, the Aurora Borealis and Aurora Australis, respectively, these highly energetic plasma gas could disrupt power grids, satellites, and communications networks.

Dr. Li's study is relevant today as they were released during a stretch of high solar activity. You may recall that Earth has become the unwitting target of several solar flares and CMEs in recent times. A powerful enough CME or solar flare could temporarily or permanently knock out electronics like laptops and phones.