A new approach for predicting proton events

A statistical, comparative study to investigate the association of particle emission with 315 two-ribbon (TR) and 1964 non-two-ribbon [normal, (N)] flares, occurring during 1976-80 is carried out. The important results obtained are (i) the N-subflares do not give rise to any particle (electrons, protons and α-nuclei) emission at all. (ii) Association of TR flares with electrons (1-5 MeV) and low energy protons (0.16-0.32 MeV) is 8-10 times higher as compared with that of N-flares. (iii) The TR-flares show good correlation with high energy protons (13.7-80 MeV) and α-nuclei (11-90 MeV nucl-1) while N-flares do not show any association. This implies that TR-flares are strong flares and only they can emit energetic particles. (author)