HELIUM ION ANISOTROPIES IN COROTATING INTERACTION REGIONS AT 1 AU

We investigated the first-order flow anisotropies in the solar wind frame of similar to 0.06-0.95 MeV nucleon(-1) He ions during three corotating interaction region (CIR)-associated particle intensity enhancements observed at 1 AU by Wind, examining CIRs with (1) a reverse shock, (2) a well-formed compression region, and (3) a weak compression region. We identified anti-sunward flows in the compression region downstream of the CIR trailing edge in the events with a reverse shock and well-formed compression that transitioned to sunward flows across and upstream of this boundary. These observations suggest that the trailing edge is organizing the He ion flows and is a local source for the particles in these events, this source being inside 1 AU prior to the trailing edge arrival and beyond 1 AU after its passage. The event with the weak compression region had predominantly sunward flows throughout, indicating that the source of the He ions was beyond 1 AU. These observations provide compelling evidence that He ions at 1 AU can be accelerated to suprathermal energies at the CIR trailing edge in events where the compression region is well formed.