Motion of solar cosmic rays in the coronal magnetic field

Abstract

Trajectories of solar cosmic rays have been calculated in a static ninth-order coronal magnetic field. It is found that as a result of field curvature and gradients, protons drift across the field lines at a rate of up to 200 γβ ² deg hr⁻¹. These drift rates are of the same order as, but somewhat smaller than, empirically derived rates. Localized enhancements of magnetic field have been inserted into the ninth-order field in order to model (in a highly idealized manner) the effects of the small-scale magnetic features which give rise to X-ray bright points. The motions of the particles in the presence of these scattering centers can be parameterized approximately by a cross-field diffusion coefficient. Our estimates of this coefficient, although crude, overlap with empirical values which have been deduced over a wide range of energies.

We propose that coronal propagation of solar cosmic rays has two components. One is independent of particle velocity, and is associated with dynamic field phenomena (such as an expanding magnetic bottle): this is the only component which is important in flares which occur close to the foot-point of the Sun-Earth field line. The second component is velocity dependent, but is independent of mass, and is associated with scattering off (relatively static) magnetic inhomogeneities with scale sizes of at least 500 km: the second component contributes to coronal propagation if the flare occurs more than about 50–60 deg away from the Sun-Earth field line.