OBSERVATION OF AN IMPULSIVE SOLAR ELECTRON EVENT EXTENDING DOWN TO SIMILAR-TO-0.5 KEV ENERGY

We present the first observation of a solar impulsive electron event s panning the entire solar wind-suprathermal particle energy range (few eV to hundreds of keV), obtained with the 3-D Plasma and Energetic Par ticle experiment on the WIND spacecraft. The electron energy spectrum fits to a power-law similar to E(-3) from similar to 40 keV down to a peak at less than or similar to 1 keV, with significant flux detected down to similar to 0.5 keV. Since the range of such low energy electro ns in ionized hydrogen is much less than the column density of the cor ona, they must be accelerated high, similar to 1 R. (solar radius) abo ve the photosphere, for typical active coronal density models.