Suprathermal helium associated with corotating interaction regions: A case study Available to Purchase

Enhancements of suprathermal particles observed at 1AU often can be related to Corotating Interaction Regions (CIRs). The compression regions associated with CIRs and their driven shocks which typically form at a few AU distance to the Sun can efficiently accelerate particles. If accelerated at the trailing edge of a CIR these particles can travel sunward along the ambient magnetic field and thus enhanced fluxes can be observed even if the acceleration region has passed over the spacecraft. We have analysed a CIR that has been observed at L1 by ACE/SWICS and SOHO/CELIAS/STOF on days 207 and 208 in 2003. The combination of SWICS and STOF data allowed us to study suprathermal Helium ranging from its onset at solar wind bulk energies up to 330 keV/nuc. Here we present our results for the temporal evolution of the flux, energy spectra and the He⁺/He⁺⁺ ratio. In particular we present observational evidence for a turnover of the energy spectra at lower energies after the CIR passage which has been theoretically predicted but never been observed so far.