Energy spectra of carbon and oxygen - Predictions from HELIOS E6 for Solar Orbiter HET

Anomalous cosmic rays (ACRs) are well-suited to probe the transport conditions of energetic particles in the innermost heliosphere. We revisit the HELIOS Experiment 6 (E6) data in view of the upcoming Solar Orbiter Energetic Particle Detector (EPD) suite that will perform measurements during a comparable solar minimum within the same distance.

Adapting the HELIOS energy ranges for oxygen and carbon to the ones given by the High Energy Telescope (HET) allows us to determine predictions for the upcoming measurements but also to put constraints on particle transport models that provide new insight into the boundary conditions close to the Sun.

We present here the adapted energy spectra of galactic cosmic ray (GCR) carbon and oxygen, as well as of ACR oxygen during solar quiet time periods between 1975 to 1977. Due to the higher energy threshold of HET in comparison to E6 gradients of about 20% at 15 MeV/nucleon are expected. The largest ACR gradient measured by E6 was obtained to be about 75% between 9 and 13 MeV/nucleon and 0.4 AU and 1 AU.