Search

We report observations of direct evidence of energetic protons being accelerated above ~400 keV within the reconnection exhaust of a heliospheric current sheet (HCS) crossing by NASA's Parker Solar Probe (PSP) at a distance of ~16.25 solar radii (Rs) from the Sun. Inside the extended exhaust, both the reconnection-generated plasma jets and the accelerated protons propagated toward the Sun, unambiguously establishing their origin from HCS reconnection sites located beyond PSP. Within the core of the exhaust, PSP detected stably trapped energetic protons up to ~400 keV, which is approximately 1000 times greater than the available magnetic energy per particle. The differential energy spectrum of the accelerated protons behaved as a pure power-law with spectral index of about -5. Supporting simulations using the kglobal model suggest that the trapping and acceleration of protons up to ~400 keV in the reconnection exhaust is likely facilitated by merging magnetic islands with a guide field between ~0.2-0.3 of the reconnecting magnetic field, consistent with the observations. These new results, enabled by PSP's proximity to the Sun, demonstrate that magnetic reconnection in the HCS is a significant new source of energetic particles in the near-Sun solar wind. The discovery of in-situ particle acceleration via magnetic reconnection at the HCS provides valuable insights into this fundamental process which frequently converts the large magnetic field energy density in the near-Sun plasma environment and may be responsible for heating the sun's atmosphere, accelerating the solar wind, and energizing charged particles to extremely high energies in solar flares., Comment: 24 pages, 4 figures

We present an event observed by Parker Solar Probe at $\sim$0.2 au on March 2, 2022 in which imaging and \emph{in situ} measurements coincide. During this event, PSP passed through structures on the flank of a streamer blowout CME including an isolated flux tube in front of the CME, a turbulent sheath, and the CME itself. Imaging observations and \emph{in situ} helicity and principal variance signatures consistently show the presence of flux ropes internal to the CME. In both the sheath, and the CME interval, the distributions are more isotropic, the spectra are softer, and the abundance ratios of Fe/O and He/H are lower than those in the isolated flux tube, and yet elevated relative to typical plasma and SEP abundances. These signatures in the sheath and the CME indicate that both flare populations and those from the plasma are accelerated to form the observed energetic particle enhancements. In contrast, the isolated flux tube shows large streaming, hard spectra and large Fe/O and He/H ratios, indicating flare sources. Energetic particle fluxes are most enhanced within the CME interval from suprathermal through energetic particle energies ($\sim$ keV to $>10$ MeV), indicating particle acceleration, and confinement local to the closed magnetic structure. The flux-rope morphology of the CME helps to enable local modulation and trapping of energetic particles, particularly along helicity channels and other plasma boundaries. Thus, the CME acts to build-up energetic particle populations, allowing them to be fed into subsequent higher energy particle acceleration throughout the inner heliosphere where a compression or shock forms on the CME front., Comment: 41 pages, 19 figures, In Press

We report on a study of the Multiview Observatory for Solar Terrestrial Science (MOST) mission that will provide comprehensive imagery and time series data needed to understand the magnetic connection between the solar interior and the solar atmosphere/inner heliosphere. MOST will build upon the successes of SOHO and STEREO missions with new views of the Sun and enhanced instrument capabilities. This article is based on a study conducted at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center that determined the required instrument refinement, spacecraft accommodation, launch configuration, and flight dynamics for mission success. MOST is envisioned as the next generation great observatory positioned to obtain three-dimensional information of large-scale heliospheric structures such as coronal mass ejections, stream interaction regions, and the solar wind itself. The MOST mission consists of 2 pairs of spacecraft located in the vicinity of Sun-Earth Lagrange points L4 (MOST1, MOST3) and L5 (MOST2 and MOST4). The spacecraft stationed at L4 (MOST1) and L5 (MOST2) will each carry seven remote-sensing and three in-situ instrument suites, including a novel radio package known as the Faraday Effect Tracker of Coronal and Heliospheric structures (FETCH). MOST3 and MOST4 will carry only the FETCH instruments and are positioned at variable locations along the Earth orbit up to 20{\deg} ahead of L4 and 20{\deg} behind L5, respectively. FETCH will have polarized radio transmitters and receivers on all four spacecraft to measure the magnetic content of solar wind structures propagating from the Sun to Earth using the Faraday rotation technique. The MOST mission will be able to sample the magnetized plasma throughout the Sun-Earth connected space during the mission lifetime over a solar cycle., Comment: 42 pages, 19 figures, 8 tables, to appear in J. Atmospheric and Solar Terrestrial Physics

The origin of 3He abundance enhancements in coronal mass ejection (CME)-driven shock gradual solar energetic particle (SEP) events remains largely unexplained. Two mechanisms have been suggested - the re-acceleration of remnant flare material in interplanetary space and concomitant activity in the corona. We explore the first gradual SEP event with enhanced 3He abundance observed by Solar Orbiter. The event started on 2020 November 24 and was associated with a relatively fast halo CME. During the event, the spacecraft was at 0.9 au from the Sun. The event averaged 3He/4He abundance ratio is 24 times higher than the coronal or solar wind value, and the 3He intensity had timing similar to other species. We inspected available imaging, radio observations, and spacecraft magnetic connection to the CME source. It appears the most probable cause of the enhanced 3He abundance are residual 3He ions remaining from a preceding long period of 3He-rich SEPs on 2020 November 17-23., Comment: 9 pages, 9 figures, accepted for publication in A&A

The fast solar wind that fills the heliosphere originates from deep within regions of open magnetic field on the Sun called coronal holes. The energy source responsible for accelerating the plasma to high speeds is widely debated, however there is evidence that it is ultimately magnetic in nature with candidate mechanisms including wave heating^(1,2) and interchange reconnection^(3,4,5). The coronal magnetic field near the solar surface is structured on scales associated with supergranulation convection cells, where descending flows create intense fields. The energy density in these network magnetic field bundles is a likely candidate as an energy source of the wind. Here we report measurements of fast solar wind streams from the Parker Solar Probe (PSP) spacecraft^6 which provides strong evidence for the interchange reconnection mechanism. We show that supergranulation structure at the coronal hole base remains imprinted in the near-Sun solar wind resulting in asymmetric patches of magnetic 'switchbacks'^(7,8) and bursty wind streams with power law-like energetic ion spectra to beyond 100 keV. Computer simulations of interchange reconnection support key features of the observations, including the ion spectra. Important characteristics of interchange reconnection in the low corona are inferred from the data including that the reconnection is collisionless and that the energy release rate is sufficient to power the fast wind. In this scenario, open magnetic flux undergoes continuous reconnection and the wind is driven both by the resulting plasma pressure and the radial Alfvenic flow bursts., Comment: 15 pages, 4 figures. Nature, 2023

In this paper we examine a low-energy SEP event observed by IS$\odot$IS's Energetic Particle Instrument-Low (EPI-Lo) inside 0.18 AU on September 30, 2020. This small SEP event has a very interesting time profile and ion composition. Our results show that the maximum energy and peak in intensity is observed mainly along the open radial magnetic field. The event shows velocity dispersion, and strong particle anisotropies are observed throughout the event showing that more particles are streaming outward from the Sun. We do not see a shock in the in-situ plasma or magnetic field data throughout the event. Heavy ions, such as O and Fe were detected in addition to protons and 4He, but without significant enhancements in 3He or energetic electrons. Our analysis shows that this event is associated with a slow streamer-blowout coronal mass ejection (SBO-CME) and the signatures of this small CME event are consistent with those typical of larger CME events. The time-intensity profile of this event shows that PSP encountered the western flank of the SBO-CME. The anisotropic and dispersive nature of this event in a shockless local plasma give indications that these particles are most likely accelerated remotely near the Sun by a weak shock or compression wave ahead of the SBO-CME. This event may represent direct observations of the source of low-energy SEP seed particle population., Comment: 25 pages, 8 figures

We present observations of >10-100 keV/nucleon suprathermal (ST) H, He, O, and Fe ions associated with crossings of the heliospheric current sheet (HCS) at radial distances <0.1 au from the Sun. Our key findings are: 1) very few heavy ions are detected during the 1st full crossing, the heavy ion intensities are reduced during the 2nd partial crossing and peak just after the 2nd crossing; 2) ion arrival times exhibit no velocity dispersion; 3) He pitch-angle distributions track the magnetic field polarity reversal and show up to ~10:1 anti-sunward, field-aligned flows and beams closer to the HCS that become nearly isotropic further from the HCS; 4) the He spectrum steepens either side of the HCS and the He, O, and Fe spectra exhibit power-laws of the form ~E^4-6; and 5) maximum energies EX increase with the ion's charge-to-mass (Q/M) ratio as EX/EH proportional to [(QX/MX)]^alpha where alpha~0.65-0.76, assuming that the average Q-states are similar to those measured in gradual and impulsive solar energetic particle events at 1 au. The absence of velocity dispersion in combination with strong field-aligned anisotropies closer to the HCS appears to rule out solar flares and near-sun coronal mass ejection-driven shocks. These new observations present challenges not only for mechanisms that employ direct parallel electric fields and organize maximum energies according to E/Q, but also for local diffusive and magnetic reconnection-driven acceleration models. Re-evaluation of our current understanding of the production and transport of energetic ions is necessary to understand this near-solar, current-sheet-associated population of ST ions., Comment: 4 Figures, 2 Tables

One of the striking observations from the Parker Solar Probe (PSP) spacecraft is the prevalence in the inner heliosphere of large amplitude, Alfv\'enic magnetic field reversals termed 'switchbacks'. These $\delta B_R/B \sim \mathcal{O}(1$) fluctuations occur on a range of timescales and in {\em patches} separated by intervals of quiet, radial magnetic field. We use measurements from PSP to demonstrate that patches of switchbacks are localized within the extensions of plasma structures originating at the base of the corona. These structures are characterized by an increase in alpha particle abundance, Mach number, plasma $\beta$ and pressure, and by depletions in the magnetic field magnitude and electron temperature. These intervals are in pressure-balance, implying stationary spatial structure, and the field depressions are consistent with overexpanded flux tubes. The structures are asymmetric in Carrington longitude with a steeper leading edge and a small ($\sim$1$^\circ$) edge of hotter plasma and enhanced magnetic field fluctuations. Some structures contain suprathermal ions to $\sim$85 keV that we argue are the energetic tail of the solar wind alpha population. The structures are separated in longitude by angular scales associated with supergranulation. This suggests that these switchbacks originate near the leading edge of the diverging magnetic field funnels associated with the network magnetic field - the primary wind sources. We propose an origin of the magnetic field switchbacks, hot plasma and suprathermals, alpha particles in interchange reconnection events just above the solar transition region and our measurements represent the extended regions of a turbulent outflow exhaust., Comment: 18 pages, 9 figures, submitted to Astrophys. J

3He-rich solar energetic particles (SEPs) are believed to be accelerated in solar flares or jets by a mechanism that depends on the ion charge-to-mass (Q/M) ratio. It implies that the flare plasma characteristics (e.g., temperature) may be effective in determining the elemental abundances of 3He-rich SEPs. This study examines the relation between the suprathermal (<0.2 MeV/nuc) abundances of the He-Fe ions measured on the Advanced Composition Explorer and temperature in the solar sources for 24 3He-rich SEP events in the period 2010-2015. The differential emission measure technique is applied to derive the temperature of the source regions from the extreme ultraviolet imaging observations on the Solar Dynamics Observatory. The obtained temperature distribution peaks at 2.0-2.5 MK that is surprisingly consistent with earlier findings based on in-situ elemental abundance or charge state measurements. We have found a significant anti-correlation between 3He/4He ratio and solar source temperature with a coefficient -0.6. It is most likely caused by non-charge-stripping processes, as both isotopes would be fully ionized in the inferred temperature range. This study shows that the elemental ratios 4He/O, N/O, Ne/O, Si/O, S/O, Ca/O, Fe/O generally behave with temperature as expected from abundance enhancement calculations at ionization equilibrium. The C and Mg, the two species with small changes in the Q/M ratio in the obtained temperature range, show no such behavior with temperature and could be influenced by similar processes as for the 3He/4He ratio., Comment: accepted for publication in ApJ

Shock parameters at Earth's bow shock in rare instances can approach the Mach numbers predicted at supernova remnants. We present our analysis of a high Alfv\'en Mach number ($M_A= 27$) shock utilizing multipoint measurements from the Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) spacecraft during a crossing of Earth's quasi-perpendicular bow shock. We find that the shock dynamics are mostly driven by reflected ions, perturbations that they generate, and nonlinear amplification of the perturbations. Our analyses show that reflected ions create modest magnetic enhancements upstream of the shock which evolve in a nonlinear manner as they traverse the shock foot. They can transform into proto-shocks that propagate at small angles to the magnetic field and towards the bow shock. The nonstationary bow shock shows signatures of both reformation and surface ripples. Our observations indicate that although shock reformation occurs, the main shock layer never disappears. These observations are at high plasma $\beta$, a parameter regime which has not been well explored by numerical models., Comment: Accepted by the Astrophysical Journal

Context:In 2020 May-June, six solar energetic ion events were observed by the Parker Solar Probe/ISoIS instrument suite at 0.35 AU from the Sun. From standard velocity-dispersion analysis, the apparent ion path length is 0.625 AU at the onset of each event. Aims:We develop a formalism for estimating the path length of random-walking magnetic field lines, to explain why the apparent ion pathlength at event onset greatly exceeds the radial distance from the Sun for these events. Methods:We developed analytical estimates of the average increase in pathlength of random-walking magnetic field lines, relative to the unperturbed mean field. Monte Carlo simulations of fieldline and particle trajectories in a model of solar wind turbulence are used to validate the formalism and study the path lengths of particle guiding-center and full-orbital trajectories. The formalism is implemented in a global solar wind model, and results are compared with ion pathlengths inferred from ISoIS observations. Results:Both a simple estimate and a rigorous theoretical formulation are obtained for fieldlines' pathlength increase as a function of pathlength along the large-scale field. From simulated fieldline and particle trajectories, we find that particle guiding centers can have pathlengths somewhat shorter than the average fieldline pathlength, while particle orbits can have substantially larger pathlengths due to their gyromotion with a nonzero effective pitch angle. Conclusions:The long apparent path length during these solar energetic ion events can be explained by 1) a magnetic field line path length increase due to the field line random walk, and 2) particle transport about the guiding center with a nonzero effective pitch angle. Our formalism for computing the magnetic field line path length, accounting for turbulent fluctuations, may be useful for application to solar particle transport in general.

The Parker Solar Probe was launched on 2018 August 12 and completed its second orbit on 2019 June 19 with perihelion of 35.7 solar radii. During this time, the Energetic particle Instrument-Hi (EPI-Hi, one of the two energetic particle instruments comprising the Integrated Science Investigation of the Sun, ISOIS) measured seven proton intensity increases associated with stream interaction regions (SIRs), two of which appear to be occurring in the same region corotating with the Sun. The events are relatively weak, with observed proton spectra extending to only a few MeV and lasting for a few days. The proton spectra are best characterized by power laws with indices ranging from -4.3 to -6.5, generally softer than events associated with SIRs observed at 1 au and beyond. Helium spectra were also obtained with similar indices, allowing He/H abundance ratios to be calculated for each event. We find values of 0.016-0.031, which are consistent with ratios obtained previously for corotating interaction region events with fast solar wind < 600 km s-1. Using the observed solar wind data combined with solar wind simulations, we study the solar wind structures associated with these events and identify additional spacecraft near 1 au appropriately positioned to observe the same structures after some corotation. Examination of the energetic particle observations from these spacecraft yields two events that may correspond to the energetic particle increases seen by EPI-Hi earlier.

Observations at 1 au have confirmed that enhancements in measured energetic particle fluxes are statistically associated with "rough" magnetic fields, i.e., fields having atypically large spatial derivatives or increments, as measured by the Partial Variance of Increments (PVI) method. One way to interpret this observation is as an association of the energetic particles with trapping or channeling within magnetic flux tubes, possibly near their boundaries. However, it remains unclear whether this association is a transport or local effect; i.e., the particles might have been energized at a distant location, perhaps by shocks or reconnection, or they might experience local energization or re-acceleration. The Parker Solar Probe (PSP), even in its first two orbits, offers a unique opportunity to study this statistical correlation closer to the corona. As a first step, we analyze the separate correlation properties of the energetic particles measured by the \isois instruments during the first solar encounter. The distribution of time intervals between a specific type of event, i.e., the waiting time, can indicate the nature of the underlying process. We find that the \isois observations show a power-law distribution of waiting times, indicating a correlated (non-Poisson) distribution. Analysis of low-energy \isois data suggests that the results are consistent with the 1 au studies, although we find hints of some unexpected behavior. A more complete understanding of these statistical distributions will provide valuable insights into the origin and propagation of solar energetic particles, a picture that should become clear with future PSP orbits., Comment: Accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal Supplement, PSP special issue

A solar energetic particle event was detected by the Integrated Science Investigation of the Sun (ISOIS) instrument suite on Parker Solar Probe (PSP) on 2019 April 4 when the spacecraft was inside of 0.17 au and less than 1 day before its second perihelion, providing an opportunity to study solar particle acceleration and transport unprecedentedly close to the source. The event was very small, with peak 1 MeV proton intensities of ~0.3 particles (cm^2 sr s MeV)^-1, and was undetectable above background levels at energies above 10 MeV or in particle detectors at 1 au. It was strongly anisotropic, with intensities flowing outward from the Sun up to 30 times greater than those flowing inward persisting throughout the event. Temporal association between particle increases and small brightness surges in the extreme-ultraviolet observed by the Solar TErrestrial RElations Observatory, which were also accompanied by type III radio emission seen by the Electromagnetic Fields Investigation on PSP, indicates that the source of this event was an active region nearly 80 degrees east of the nominal PSP magnetic footpoint. This suggests that the field lines expanded over a wide longitudinal range between the active region in the photosphere and the corona.

A series of solar energetic particle (SEP) events were observed at Parker Solar Probe (PSP) by the Integrated Science Investigation of the Sun (\ISOIS) during the period from April 18, 2019 through April 24, 2019. The PSP spacecraft was located near 0.48 au from the Sun on Parker spiral field lines that projected out to 1 au within $\sim 25^\circ$ of near Earth spacecraft. These SEP events, though small compared to historically large SEP events, were amongst the largest observed thus far in the PSP mission and provide critical information about the space environment inside 1 au during SEP events. During this period the Sun released multiple coronal mass ejections (CMEs). One of these CMEs observed was initiated on April 20, 2019 at 01:25 UTC, and the interplanetary CME (ICME) propagated out and passed over the PSP spacecraft. Observations by the Electromagnetic Fields Investigation (FIELDS) show that the magnetic field structure was mostly radial throughout the passage of the compression region and the plasma that followed, indicating that PSP did not directly observe a flux rope internal to the ICME, consistent with the location of PSP on the ICME flank. Analysis using relativistic electrons observed near Earth by the Electron, Proton and Alpha Monitor (EPAM) on the Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE) demonstrates the presence of electron seed populations (40--300 keV) during the events observed. The energy spectrum of the \ISOIS~ observed proton seed population below 1 MeV is close to the limit of possible stationary state plasma distributions out of equilibrium. \ISOIS~ observations reveal the \revise{enhancement} of seed populations during the passage of the ICME, which \revise{likely indicates a key part} of the pre-acceleration process that occurs close to the Sun.

The Integrated Science Investigations of the Sun (IS$\odot$IS) instrument suite includes two Energetic Particle instruments: EPI-Hi, designed to measure ions from ~1-200 MeV/nuc, and EPI-Lo, designed to measure ions from ~20 keV/nuc to ~15 MeV/nuc. We present an analysis of eight energetic proton events observed across the energy range of both instruments during PSP's first two orbits in order to examine their combined energy spectra. Background corrections are applied to help resolve spectral breaks between the two instruments and are shown to be effective. In doing so we demonstrate that, even in the early stages of calibration, IS$\odot$IS is capable of producing reliable spectral observations across broad energy ranges. In addition to making groundbreaking measurements very near the Sun, IS$\odot$IS also characterizes energetic particle populations over a range of heliocentric distances inside 1 au. During the first two orbits, IS$\odot$IS observed energetic particle events from a single corotating interaction region (CIR) at three different distances from the Sun. The events are separated by two Carrington rotations and just 0.11 au in distance, however the relationship shown between proton intensities and proximity of the spacecraft to the source region shows evidence of the importance of transport effects on observations of energetic particles from CIRs. Future IS$\odot$IS observations of similar events over larger distances will help disentangle the effects of CIR-related acceleration and transport. We apply similar spectral analyses to the remaining five events, including four that are likely related to stream interaction regions (SIRs) and one solar energetic particle (SEP) event., Comment: Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series

We investigate energetic particle transport in Corotating Interaction Regions (CIRs) through a case study. The CIR event we study occurred on $2008$ February $08$ and was observed by both the Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE) and the twin Solar TErrestrial RElations Observatory (STEREO)-B spacecraft. An in-situ reverse shock was observed by STEREO-B ($1.0$ AU) but not ACE ($0.98$ AU). Using STEREO-B observations and assuming the CIR structure does not vary significantly in the corotating frame, we estimate the shock location at later times for both the STEREO-B and ACE observations. Further assuming the accelerated particle spectral shape at the shock does not vary with shock location, we calculate the particle differential intensities as observed by ACE and STEREO-B at two different times by solving the focused transport equation using a Monte-Carlo simulation. We assume that particles move along Parker's field and experience no cross-field diffusion. We find that the modulation of sub-MeV/nucleon particles is significant. To obtain reasonable comparisons between the simulations and the observations by both ACE and STEREO-B, one has to assume that the CIR shock can accelerate more particles at a larger heliocentric distance than at a smaller heliocentric distance., Comment: Published in JGR

In large SEP events, ions can be accelerated at CME-driven shocks to very high energies. Spectra of heavy ions in many large SEP events show features such as roll-overs or spectral breaks. In some events when the spectra are plotted in energy/nucleon they can be shifted relative to each other to make the spectral breaks align. The amount of shift is charge-to-mass ratio (Q/A) dependent and varies from event to event. This can be understood if the spectra of heavy ions are organized by the diffusion coefficients (Cohen et al., 2005). In the work of Li et al. (2009), the Q/A dependences of the scaling is related to shock geometry when the CME-driven shock is close to the Sun. For events where multiple in-situ spacecraft observations exist, one may expect that different spacecraft are connected to different portions of the CME-driven shock that have different shock geometries, therefore yielding different Q/A dependence. In this work, we examine one SEP event which occurred on 2013 November 4. We study the Q/A dependence of the energy scaling for heavy ion spectra using Helium, oxygen, and iron ions. Observations from STEREO-A, STEREO-B and ACE are examined. We find that the scalings are different for different spacecraft. We suggest that this is because ACE, STEREO-A and STEREO- B are connected to different parts of the shock that have different shock geometries. Our analysis indicates that studying the Q/A scaling of in-situ particle spectra can serve as a powerful tool to remotely examine the shock geometry for large SEP events., Comment: 9 pages, 4 figures

We fit the $\sim$0.1-500 MeV/nucleon H-Fe spectra in 46 large SEP events surveyed by Desai et al. (2016) with the double power-law Band function to obtain a normalization constant, low- and high-energy parameters $\gamma_a$ and $\gamma_b$; and break energy $E_B$. We also calculate the low-energy power-law spectral slope $\gamma_1$. We find that: 1) $\gamma_a$, $\gamma_1$, and $\gamma_b$ are species-independent within a given SEP event, and the spectra steepen with increasing energy; 2) $E_B$'s are well ordered by Q/M ratio, and decrease systematically with decreasing Q/M, scaling as (Q/M)$^\alpha$ with $\alpha$ varying between $\sim$0.2-3; 3) $\alpha$ is well correlated with Fe/O at $\sim$0.16-0.23 MeV/nucleon and CME speed; 4) In most events: $\alpha<$1.4, the spectra steepen significantly at higher energy with $\gamma_b$-$\gamma_a >$3; and 5) Seven out of 9 extreme SEP events (associated with faster CMEs and GLEs) are Fe-rich, have $\alpha >$1.4, have flatter spectra at low and high energies with $\gamma_b$-$\gamma_a <$3. The species-independence of $\gamma_a$, $\gamma_1$, and $\gamma_b$ and the systematic Q/M dependence of $E_B$ within an event, as well as the range of values for $\alpha$ suggest that the formation of double power-laws in SEP events occurs primarily due to diffusive acceleration at near-Sun CME shocks and not due to scattering in the interplanetary turbulence. In most events, the Q/M-dependence of $E_B$ is consistent with the equal diffusion coefficient condition while the event-to-event variations in $\alpha$ are probably driven by differences in the near-shock wave intensity spectra, which are flatter than the Kolmogorov turbulence spectrum but still weaker compared to that inferred for the extreme events., Comment: 49 pages, 13 figures, 3 tables

We report observations of the acceleration and trapping of energetic ions and electrons between a pair of corotating interaction regions (CIRs). The event occurred in Carrington Rotation 2060. Observed at spacecraft STEREO-B, the two CIRs were separated by less than 5 days. In contrast to other CIR events, the fluxes of energetic ions and electrons in this event reached their maxima between the trailing-edge of the first CIR and the leading edge of the second CIR. The radial magnetic field (Br) reversed its sense and the anisotropy of the flux also changed from sunward to anti-sunward between the two CIRs. Furthermore, there was an extended period of counter-streaming suprathermal electrons between the two CIRs. Similar observations for this event were also obtained for ACE and STEREO-A. We conjecture that these observations were due to a "U-shape" large scale magnetic field topology connecting the reverse shock of the first CIR and the forward shock of the second CIR. Such a disconnected U-shaped magnetic field topology may have formed due to magnetic reconnection in the upper corona.