Cosmic Ray Transport in the Distant Heliosheath
The character of energetic particle transport in the distant heliosheath and especially in the vicinity of the heliopause could be quite distinct from the other regions of the heliosphere. The magnetic field structure is dominated by a tightly wrapped oscillating heliospheric current sheet which is transported to higher latitudes by the nonradial heliosheath flows. Both Voyagers have, or are expected to enter a region dominated by the sectored field formed during the preceding solar maximum. As the plasma flow slows down on approach to the heliopause, the distance between the folds of the current sheet decreases to the point where it becomes comparable to the cyclotron radius of an energetic ion, such as a galactic cosmic ray. Then, a charged particle can effectively drift across a stack of magnetic sectors with a speed comparable with the particle’s velocity. Cosmic rays should also be able to efficiently diffuse across the mean magnetic field if the distance between sector boundaries varies. The region of the heliopause could thus be much more permeable to cosmic rays than was previously thought. This new transport proposed mechanism could explain the very high intensities (approaching the model interstellar values) of galactic cosmic rays measured by Voyager 1 during 2010-2011.
V. FLORINSKI J. H. ADAMS H. WASHIMI
Department of Physics, University of Alabama in Huntsville Center for Space Plasma and Aeronomic Res NASA Marshall Space Flight Center Center for Space Plasma and Aeronomic Research, University of Alabama in Huntsville
国际会议
北京
英文
1-4
2011-08-11（万方平台首次上网日期，不代表论文的发表时间）