The generation of proton beams in two-ribbon flares

It is shown that, in the current sheet at the top of the arcade of postflare loops in a two-ribbon solar flare, particle beams are generated by direct electric-field acceleration. The acceleration process is completely collisionless and is limited only by the gyromotion along the component of the magnetic field perpendicular to the sheet. This mechanism is similar to the particle acceleration in the geomagnetic tail. Neutral beams emanate from the sheet with almost zero pitch angle, making protons the main carriers of the beam energy. Approximately 10 to the 35th protons/sec are generated with a typical energy of 200 keV. Their energy distribution is a single power law, with an upper and lower energy cut-off. Such a population is capable of simultaneously generating the observed impulsive-phase hard X-rays and the gamma rays.