Evidence for flare-accelerated particles in large scale loops in the behind-the-limb gamma-ray solar flare of September 29, 2022^⋆

¹ Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Pisa, 56127 Pisa, Italy
e-mail: melissa.pesce.rollins@pi.infn.it
² Observatoire de Paris, LESIA & Observatoire Radio Astronomique de Nançay, Univ. PSL, CNRS, Sorbonne Univ., Univ. Paris Cité, OSUC, 5 Place Jules Janssen, 92190 Meudon, France
³ University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland, 5210 Windisch, Switzerland
⁴ Space Science Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720-7450, USA
⁵ Leibniz-Institut für Astrophysik Potsdam (AIP), An der Sternwarte 16, 14482 Potsdam, Germany
⁶ Institute of Physics & Kanzelhöhe Observarory, University of Graz, Universitätsplatz 5, 8010 Graz, Austria
⁷ W. W. Hansen Experimental Physics Laboratory, Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology, Department of Physics and SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
⁸ Istituto ricerche solari Aldo e Cele Daccò (IRSOL), Faculty of Informatics, Università della Svizzera italiana (USI), 6605 Locarno, Switzerland

Received: 27 September 2023
Accepted: 26 January 2024

Abstract

We report on the detection of the gamma-ray emission above 100 MeV from the solar flare of September 29, 2022, by Fermi LAT with simultaneous coverage in HXR by Solar Orbiter STIX. The Solar Orbiter-Earth separation was 178° at the time of the flare as seen from Earth, with Solar Orbiter observing the east limb. Based on STIX imaging, the flare was located 16° behind the eastern limb as seen from Earth. The STIX and GBM non-thermal emission and the LAT emission above 100 MeV all show similarly shaped time profiles, and the Fermi profiles peaked only 20 s after the STIX signal from the main flare site, setting this flare apart from all the other occulted flares observed by Fermi LAT. The radio spectral imaging based on the Nançay Radioheliograph and ORFEES spectrograph reveal geometries consistent with a magnetic structure that connects the parent active region behind the limb to the visible disk. We studied the basic characteristics of the gamma-ray time profile, in particular, the rise and decay times and the time delay between the gamma-ray and HXR peak fluxes. We compared the characteristics of this event with those of four Fermi LAT behind-the-limb flares and with an on-disk event and found that this event is strikingly similar to the impulsive on-disk flare. Based on multiwavelength observations, we find that the gamma-ray emission above 100 MeV originated from ions accelerated in the parent active region behind the limb and was transported to the visible disk via a large magnetic structure connected to the parent active region behind the limb. Our results strongly suggest that the source of the emission above 100 MeV from the September 29, 2022 flare cannot be the CME-driven shock.