On the Mechanism of Solar Cosmic Ray Enrichment by Heavy Ions

A possible mechanism for the heavy-ion enrichment observed in solar cosmic rays is investigated theoretically. It is shown that the nonlinear scattering of plasmons can lead to an increase in the average square velocity of particles in the upper solar atmosphere which is closely related to the plasmon charge and mass numbers; at coronal temperatures heavy ions may be heated preferentially, and enrichment coefficients are calculated for a number of elements heavier than oxygen. The enrichment coefficient calculations are given in a table.