HELIOSPHERE DIMENSION AND COSMIC RAY MODULATION (original) (raw)

The HelMod Monte Carlo Model for the Propagation of Cosmic Rays in Heliosphere

Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union

The heliospheric modulation model HelMod solves the transport-equation for Galactic Cosmic Ray propagation through the heliosphere down to Earth. It is based on a 2-D Monte Carlo approach that includes a general description of the symmetric and antisymmetric parts of the diffusion tensor, thus properly treating the particle drift effects as well as convection within the solar wind and adiabatic energy loss. The model was tuned in order to fit 1) the data observed outside the ecliptic plane at several distances from the Earth and 2) the spectra observed near the Earth for both, high and low solar activity periods. Great importance was given to description of polar regions of the heliosphere. We present the flux for protons, antiprotons and helium nuclei computed for solar cycle 23-24 in comparison with experimental observations and prediction for the full solar cycle 24.

Testing diffusion of cosmic rays in the heliosphere with p/He data from AMS

2018

After six years of continuous observations in space, the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer experiment has released new data on the temporal evolution of the proton and helium fluxes in cosmic rays. These data revealed that the ratio between proton and helium fluxes at the same value of rigidity R=p/Z (momentum/charge ratio) is not constant at R<3 GV. In particular, the ratio is found to decrease steadily during the descending phase of Solar Cycle 24 toward the next minimum. We show that such a behavior is a remarkable signature of the β × λ(R) dependence in the diffusion of cosmic rays in heliosphere, where β is their adimensional speed and λ(R) is their mean free path, a universal function of rigidity for all nuclei. This dependence is responsible for distinctive charge/mass dependent effects in the time-dependent modulation of low-rigidity particles.

HelMod: A Comprehensive Treatment of the Cosmic Ray Transport Through the Heliosphere

HelMod is a code evaluating the transport of Galactic cosmic rays through the inner heliosphere down to Earth. It is based on a 2-D Monte Carlo approach and includes a general description of the symmetric and antisymmetric parts of the diffusion tensor, thus, properly treating the particle drift effects. The model has been tuned in order to fit the data observed outside the ecliptic plane at several distances from the Earth and the spectra observed near the Earth for both, high and low solar activity levels. A stand-alone python module, fully compatible with GalProp, was developed for a comprehensive calculation of solar modulation effects, resulting in a newly suggested set of local interstellar spectra.

Heliospheric modulation of cosmic rays: model and observation

Solnechno-Zemnaya Fizika, 2017

This paper presents the basic model of cosmic ray modulation in the heliosphere, developed in Yu.G. Shafer Institute of Cosmophysical Research and Aeronomy of the Siberian Branch of RAS. The model has only one free modulation parameter: the ratio of the regular magnetic field to the turbulent one. It may also be applied to the description of cosmic ray intensity variations in a wide energy range from 100 MeV to 100 GeV. Possible mechanisms of generation of the mentioned turbulence field are considered. The primary assumption about the electrical neutrality of the heliosphere appears to be wrong, and the zero potential needed to match the model with observations in the plane of the solar equator can be achieved if the frontal point of the heliosphere, which is flowed around by interstellar gas, lies near the mentioned plane. We have revealed that the abnormal rise of cosmic ray intensity at the end of solar cycle 23 is related to the residual modulation produced by the subsonic solar...

On the heliolatitudinal variation of the galactic cosmic-ray intensity. Comparison with Ulysses measurements

We study the dependence of cosmic rays with he-liolatitude using a simple method and compare the results with the actual data from Ulysses and IMP spacecraft. We reproduce the galactic cosmic-ray heliographic latitudinal intensity variations, applying a semi-empirical, 2-D diffusion-convection model for the cosmic-ray transport in the inter-planetary space. This model is a modification of our previous 1-D model (Exarhos and Moussas, 2001) and includes not only the radial diffusion of the cosmic-ray particles but also the latitudinal diffusion. Dividing the interplanetary region into " spherical magnetic sectors " (a small heliolatitudinal extension of a spherical magnetized solar wind plasma shell) that travel into the interplanetary space at the solar wind velocity , we calculate the cosmic-ray intensity for different he-liographic latitudes as a series of successive intensity drops that all these " spherical magnetic sectors " between the Sun and the heliospheric termination shock cause the unmodu-lated galactic cosmic-ray intensity. Our results are compared with the Ulysses cosmic-ray measurements obtained during the first pole-to-pole passage from mid-1994 to mid-1995.