Formation and development of shock waves in the solar corona and the near-Sun interplanetary space

Astrophysikalisches Institut Potsdam, An der Sternwarte 16, 14482 Potsdam, Germany

Corresponding author: G. Mann, GMann@aip.de

Received: 24 January 2002
Accepted: 16 September 2002

Abstract

At the Sun, shock waves are produced either by flares and/or by coronal mass ejections (CMEs) and are regarded as the source of solar energetic particle events. They can be able to generate solar type II radio bursts. The non-radial propagation of a disturbance is considered away from an active region through the corona into the interplanetary space by evaluating the spatial behaviour of the Alfvén speed. The magnetic field of an active region is modelled by a magnetic dipole superimposed on that of the quiet Sun. Such a magnetic field structure leads to a local minimum of the Alfvén speed in the range 1.2–1.8 solar radii in the corona as well as a maximum of 740 km s^-1 at a distance of 3.8 solar radii. The occurrence of such local extrema has important consequences for the formation and development of shock waves in the corona and the near-Sun interplanetary space and their ability to accelerate particles. It leads to a temporal delay of the onset of solar energetic particle events with respect to both the initial energy release (flare) and the onset of the solar type II radio burst.