A study on the variations in long-range dependence of solar energetic particles during different solar cycles

Solar Energetic Particles (SEPs) are high-energy particles ejected by the Sun which consist of protons, electrons and heavy ions having energies in the range of a few tens of keVs to several GeVs. The statistical features of the solar energetic particles (SEPs) during different periods of solar cycles are highly variable. In the present study we try to quantify the long-range dependence (or long-memory) of the solar energetic particles during different periods of solar cycle (SC) 23 and 24. For stochastic processes, long-range dependence or self-similarity is usually quantified by the Hurst exponent. We compare the Hurst exponent of SEP proton fluxes having energies (>1MeV to >100 MeV) for different periods, which include both solar maximum and minimum years, in order to find whether SC-dependent self-similarity exist for SEP flux.