Wave-Particle Interactions near Interplanetary Shocks: Solar Orbiter Observations

The interaction between waves and particles plays a pivotal role in particle acceleration near interplanetary shocks. Previously, detailed investigations about these processes were limited due to data availability and coarse time resolution from interplanetary missions. However, recent observations from the Solar Orbiter mission, with its high-resolution capabilities, have shed new light on this topic. In this work, we conduct a comprehensive study of wave-particle interactions near interplanetary shocks, using four years of data obtained by the Energetic Particle Detector (EPD), Magnetometer (MAG), Radio and Plasma Wave Analyzer (RPW) and Solar Wind Analyzer (SWA) onboard the Solar Orbiter. We analyze the propagation and polarization properties of waves associated with shocks through wavelet analysis. In addition, we reconstruct the pitch angle distributions and gyrophase distributions of particles in the solar wind frame of reference. These reconstructions help us identify wave-particle interactions in the data and investigate the energy transport during these events. We report on results from this ongoing analysis. Our results advance the understanding of particle acceleration induced by waves near interplanetary shocks, highlighting the role of wave-particle interactions in dynamic processes occurring in the inner heliosphere.