The Heliosphere as Seen in TeV Cosmic Rays

15th Annual International Astrophysics Conference: "The Science of Ed Stone: Celebrating his 80th Birthday"

物理学;天文学

Zhang, Ming^1,2 ; Pogorelov, Nikolai^1,2

Department of Physics and Space Sciences, Florida Institute of Technology, Melbourne

FL

32901, United States^1

Center for Space Plasma and Aeronomic Research, Department of Space Sciences, University of Alabama in Huntsville, Huntsville

AL

35899, United States^2

关键词: Cosmic ray air showers;    Cosmic ray anisotropy;    Cosmic ray flux;    Dipole patterns;    Electric and magnetic fields;    Galactic magnetic fields;    Interstellar magnetic fields;    Local interstellar medium;   

Others  :  https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1742-6596/767/1/012027/pdf
DOI  :  10.1088/1742-6596/767/1/012027

学科分类：天文学(综合)

来源: IOP

【 摘 要 】

Measurements from several cosmic-ray air shower experiments reveal that the anisotropy of TeV cosmic-ray flux does not agree with a dipole pattern commonly expected from the Compton-Getting effect or from the diffusion of cosmic rays in Galactic magnetic fields. TeV cosmic-ray anisotropy maps often show fine features, some of which are slightly time-dependent. Because the size of the heliosphere is larger than the gyroradius of TeV cosmic rays in the interstellar magnetic field, the electric and magnetic fields of the heliosphere may distort the pattern of cosmic-ray anisotropy that one would see in the local interstellar medium without the presence of the heliosphere. We have developed a method of mapping cosmic-ray anisotropy using Liouville's theorem. In this paper, we show how to use cosmic-ray anisotropy features to determine the direction of the local interstellar magnetic field, the hydrogen deflection plane, the size and shape of the heliotail, and the geometry of the heliosphere bow wave.