Validity of time-averaged SEP spectra

Determine whether modeling solar or stellar energetic particle (SEP) radiation using time-averaged spectra is a valid approximation compared to a discrete-event description, particularly for applications that simulate atmospheric escape, chemistry, and long-term planetary evolution.

Background

In many planetary atmosphere models, SEP inputs are simplified to time-averaged spectra, even though SEPs occur as discrete events with strong variability in intensity, duration, and spectral hardness. Whether such averaging preserves the physical impacts relevant to atmospheric escape and chemistry is not established.

Resolving this question is important for accurately estimating cumulative particle effects on exoplanets and for interpreting observations and model intercomparisons across different stellar activity regimes.