Acceleration of Solar Energetic Particles through CME-driven Shock and Streamer Interaction

On 2013 June 21, a solar prominence eruption was observed, accompanied by an M2.9 class flare, a fast coronal mass ejection, and a type II radio burst. The concomitant emission of solar energetic particles (SEPs) produced a significant proton flux increase, in the energy range 4–100 MeV, measured by the Low and High Energy Telescopes on board the Solar TErrestrial RElations Observatory (STEREO)-B spacecraft. Only small enhancements, at lower energies, were observed at the STEREO-A and Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) spacecraft. This work investigates the relationship between the expanding front, coronal streamers, and the SEP fluxes observed at different locations. Extreme-ultraviolet data, acquired by the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) instrument on board the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO), were used to study the expanding front and its interaction with streamer structures in the low corona. The 3D shape of the expanding front was reconstructed and extrapolated at different times by using SDO/AIA, STEREO/Sun Earth Connection Coronal and Heliospheric Investigation, and Solar and Heliospheric Observatory/Large Angle and Spectrometric Coronagraph observations with a spheroidal model. By adopting a potential field source surface approximation and estimating the magnetic connection of the Parker spiral, below and above 2.5 R ⊙ , we found that during the early expansion of the eruption, the front had a strong magnetic connection with STEREO-B (between the nose and flank of the eruption front) while having a weak connection with STEREO-A and GOES. The obtained results provide evidence, for the first time, that the interaction between an expanding front and streamer structures can be responsible for the acceleration of high-energy SEPs up to at least 100 MeV, as it favors particle trapping and hence increases the shock acceleration efficiency.