Composition Variation of the 2023 May 16 Solar Energetic Particle Event Observed by SolO and PSP

Abstract

In this study, we employ the combined charged particle measurements from Integrated Science Investigation of the Sun on board the Parker Solar Probe (PSP) and Energetic Particle Detector on board the Solar Orbiter (SolO) to study the composition variation of the solar energetic particle (SEP) event occurring on 2023 May 16. During the event, SolO and PSP were located at a similar radial distance of ∼0.7 au and were separated by ∼60° in longitude. The footpoints of both PSP and SolO were west of the flare region, but the former was much closer (18° versus 80°). Such a distribution of observers is ideal for studying the longitudinal dependence of the ion composition with the minimum transport effects of particles along the radial direction. We focus on H, He, O, and Fe measured by both spacecraft in sunward and antisunward directions. Their spectra are in a double power-law shape, which is fitted best by the Band function. Notably, the event was Fe rich at PSP, where the mean Fe/O ratio at energies of 0.1–10 Mev nuc−1 was 0.48, higher than the average Fe/O ratio in previous large SEP events. In contrast, the mean Fe/O ratio at SolO over the same energy range was considerably lower at 0.08. The Fe/O ratio between 0.5 and 10 MeV nuc−1 at both spacecraft is nearly constant. Although the He/H ratio shows energy dependence, decreasing with increasing energy, the He/H ratio at PSP is still about twice as high as that at SolO. Such a strong longitudinal dependence of element abundances and the Fe-rich component in the PSP data could be attributed to the direct flare contribution. Moreover, the temporal profiles indicate that differences in the Fe/O and He/H ratios between PSP and SolO persisted throughout the entire event rather than only at the start.