Energetic particles in space

A review is presented of observations of suprathermal particles in the interplanetary medium along with new data on low energy particles from experiments aboard the ISEE spacecraft. Energy spectra of protons in the near earth atmosphere are plotted in the rest frame of the solar wind noting that at energies above 10 to the 9th eV, the galactic cosmic ray electron component has an unattenuated access into the heliosphere. Solar transient events such as flares accelerate and release energetic particles into the interplanetary medium; flare particle fluxes generate shock waves propagating past 1 AU following the event. It is concluded that the energy spectra for shock wave accelerations show a characteristic shape in accordance with the power law with a rapid steepening at high energies.