12–23 Jul 2021
Online
Europe/Berlin timezone

Spectral parameterization of GCR observations and reconstruction of solar modulation parameters derived from the Convection-Diffusion approximation

14 Jul 2021, 12:00
1h 30m
07

07

Talk SH | Solar & Heliospheric Discussion

Speaker

Moshe Godfrey Mosotho (Center for Space Research, North-West University, South Africa)

Description

Galactic cosmic rays (GCRs) entering the heliosphere and propagating towards Earth are subject to various modulation processes including drifts, convection, adiabatic energy changes, and diffusion as a result of the turbulent solar wind. This transport can be described by the Parker equation (Parker, 1965). A widely used first-order approximation of the Parker equation is the Force-Field approximation (FFA), while a similar approximation, the Convection-Diffusion approximation (CDA) is rarely applied. Using PAMELA and AMS-02 observations, the validity of the FFA and the CDA in the energy range 1 MeV to 20 GeV was investigated. The resulting modulation parameters and the effective diffusion coefficient, derived from both approximations over a complete 11-years solar cycle, were compared. Our results show that the CDA appears to be significantly more accurate than the FFA in reproducing the measurements, while the resulting transport parameters are highly dependent on the choice of the local interstellar spectrum and the assumed diffusion coefficient parameters. Based on these findings, we therefore propose to use the CDA as a more suitable approximation than the widely used FFA for space weather applications, especially for dosimetric studies where an accurate GCR parametrization is essential.

Keywords

Galactic cosmic-rays, Solar modulation

Subcategory Experimental Results
Collaboration other (fill field below)
other Collaboration No answer

Primary authors

Moshe Godfrey Mosotho (Center for Space Research, North-West University, South Africa) Prof. Du Toit Strauss (Center for Space Research, North-West University, South Africa)

Presentation materials