DOUBLE POWER LAWS IN THE EVENT-INTEGRATED SOLAR ENERGETIC PARTICLE SPECTRUM

A double power law or a power law with exponential rollover at a few to tens of MeV nucleon(-1) of the event-integrated differential spectra has been reported in many solar energetic particle (SEP) events. The rollover energies per nucleon of different elements correlate with a particle's charge-to-mass ratio (Q/A). The probable causes are suggested as residing in shock finite lifetimes, shock finite sizes, shock geometry, and an adiabatic cooling effect. In this work, we conduct a numerical simulation to investigate a particle's transport process in the inner heliosphere. We solve the focused transport equation using a time-backward Markov stochastic approach. The convection, magnetic focusing, adiabatic cooling effect, and pitch-angle scattering are included. The effects that the interplanetary turbulence imposes. on the shape of the resulting SEP spectra are examined. By assuming a pure power-law differential spectrum at the Sun, a perfect double-power-law feature with a break energy ranging from 10 to 120 MeV nucleon(-1) is obtained at 1 au. We found that the double power. law of the. differential energy spectrum is a robust result of SEP interplanetary propagation. It works for many assumptions of interplanetary turbulence spectra that give various forms of momentum dependence of a. particle's mean free path. The different spectral shapes in low-energy and high-energy ends are not just a transition from the convection-dominated propagation to diffusion-dominated propagation.