Detection of Energy Cutoffs in Flare-accelerated Electrons

Abstract

Energy cutoffs in electron distribution define the lower and upper limits on the energy range of energetic electrons accelerated in solar flares. They are crucial parameters for understanding particle acceleration processes and energy budgets. Their signatures have been reported in studies of flattened flare X-ray spectra, i.e., the impulsive emission of nonthermal bremsstrahlung from energetic electrons impacting ambient, thermal plasma. However, these observations have not provided unambiguous constraints on the cutoffs. Moreover, other processes may result in similar spectral features. Even the existence and necessity of cutoffs as physical parameters of energetic electrons have been under debate. Here we report a search for their signatures in flare-accelerated electrons with two approaches, i.e., in both X-ray spectra and solar energetic particle (SEP) events. These represent two different electron populations, but may contain information of the same acceleration process. By studying a special group of late impulsive flares, and a group of selected SEP events, we found evidence of cutoffs revealed in both X-ray spectra and SEP electron distributions. In particular, we found for the first time consistent low- and high-energy cutoffs in both hard X-ray-producing and escaping electrons in two events. We also showed the importance of high-energy cutoff in studies of spectral shapes. These results provide evidence of cutoffs in flare-accelerated energetic electrons and new clues for constraining electron distribution parameters and particle acceleration models.