Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Abundances And Energy Spectra Of Corotating Interaction Region Heavy Ions Observed During Solar Cycle 23, Glenn M. Mason, Richard A. Leske, Mihir I. Desai, Christina M.S. Cohen, Joseph R. Dwyer, Joseph E. Mazur, Richard A. Mewaldt, Robert E. Gold, Stamatios M. Krimigis

Aerospace, Physics, and Space Science Faculty Publications

Using instruments on the ACE spacecraft, we surveyed the heavy-ion spectra and composition over the range He– Fe for 41 corotating interaction regions (CIRs) during 1998–2007. Below~ 1 MeV nucleon^-1 the spectra are power laws in kinetic energy nucleon^-1 with an average spectral index of 2:51 ± 0:10, rolling over above ~ 1 MeV nucleon^-1 to power-law spectra with an average index of 4:47 ± 0:17. The spectral shapes for different species are similar, leading to relative abundances that are constant over our energy range, even though the intensities cover up to 8 orders of magnitude. Relative to oxygen, the …