Trapping of solar energetic particles by the small-scale topology of solar wind turbulence

The transport of energetic particles perpendicular to the mean magnetic field in space plasmas has long been viewed as a diffusive process. However, there is an apparent conflict between recent observations of solar energetic particles (SEPs): (1) Impulsive solar flares can exhibit "dropouts" in which the SEP intensity near Earth repeatedly disappears and reappears, indicating a filamentary distribution of SEPs and little diffusion across these boundaries. (2) Observations by the IMP-8 and Ulysses spacecraft, while they were on opposite sides of the Sun, showed similar time-intensity profiles for many SEP events, indicating a rapid lateral diffusion of particles throughout the inner solar system within a few days. We explain these seemingly contradictory observations using a theoretical model, supported by computer simulations, in which many particles are temporarily trapped within topological structures in statistically homogeneous magnetic turbulence and ultimately escape to diffuse at a much faster rate.