Enrichment of heavy nuclei in He-3-rich flares

IMP-7 observations of five solar-flare particle events characterized by He-3 enrichment are reported which show that such events are also enriched in nuclei with charges (Z) of at least 6. The ratio of these nuclei to H-1 at approximately 3 MeV/nucleon was found to be enriched by about 10 to 100 times, while the ratio with respect to He-4 was enriched by about 3 to 30 times. It is suggested that the simultaneous enhancement of He-3 and the heavier nuclei as well as the absence of H-2 and H-3 during the observed events may be partly due to a preferential acceleration process which depends on the ratio of the square of the charge to the atomic weight of the nuclei.