Abstract
With the cosmic ray observations made by the Voyager 1 spacecraft outside the dominant modulating influence of the heliosphere, the comparison of computed galactic spectra with experimental data at lower energies is finally possible. Spectra for specifically protons, helium and carbon nuclei, computed by galactic propagation models, can now be compared with observations at low energies from Voyager 1 and at high energies from the PAMELA space detector at Earth. We set out to reproduce the Voyager 1 observations in the energy range of 6 MeV/nuc to 60 MeV/nuc, and the PAMELA spectrum above 50 GeV/nuc, using the GALPROP code, similarly to our previous study for Voyager 1 electrons. By varying the galactic diffusion parameters in the GALPROP plain diffusion model, specifically the rigidity dependence of spatial diffusion, and then including reacceleration, we compute spectra simultaneously for galactic protons, helium and carbon. We present new local interstellar spectra, with expressions for the energy range of 3 MeV/nuc to 100 GeV/nuc, which should be of value for solar modulation modeling.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Adriani, O., Barbarino, G.C., Bazilevskaya, G.A., et al.: Science 332, 69 (2011)
Adriani, O., Barbarino, G.C., Bazilevskaya, G.A., et al.: Astrophys. J. 791, 93 (2014)
Bisschoff, D., Potgieter, M.S.: Astrophys. J. 794, 166 (2014)
Boezio, M.: Braz. J. Phys. 44, 441 (2014)
Herbst, K., Heber, B., Kopp, A., Sternal, O., Steinhilber, F.: Astrophys. J. 761, 17 (2012)
Menn, W., Adriani, O., Barbarino, G.C., et al.: Adv. Space Res. 51, 209 (2013)
Moskalenko, I.: arXiv:1105.4921v1 [astro-ph.HE] (2011)
Potgieter, M.S.: Living Rev. Sol. Phys. 10, 3 (2013)
Potgieter, M.S.: Braz. J. Phys. 44, 581 (2014)
Potgieter, M.S., Vos, E.E., Nndanganeni, R.R.: In: Proc. 14th ICATPP Conf. on Astroparticle, Particle, Space Physics and Detectors for Physics Applications, Como, Italy (2014a)
Potgieter, M.S., Vos, E.E., Boezio, M., De Simone, N., Di Felice, V., Formato, V.: Sol. Phys. 289, 391 (2014b)
Ptuskin, V.S., Moskalenko, I.V., Jones, F.C., Strong, A.W., Zirakashvili, V.N.: Astrophys. J. 642, 902 (2006)
Stone, E.C., Cummings, A.C., McDonald, F.B., Heikkila, B.C., Lal, N., Webber, W.R.: Science 341, 150 (2013)
Strauss, R.D., Potgieter, M.S.: Adv. Space Res. 53, 1015 (2014)
Strong, A.W., Moskalenko, I.V.: Astrophys. J. 509, 212 (1998)
Strong, A.W., Moskalenko, I.V., Ptuskin, V.S.: Annu. Rev. Nucl. Part. Sci. 57, 285 (2007)
Vladimirov, A.E., Digel, S.W., Jóhannesson, G., Michelson, P.F., Moskalenko, I.V., Nolan, P.L., Orlando, E., Porter, T.A., Strong, A.W.: Comput. Phys. Commun. 182, 1156 (2011)
Vos, E.E., Potgieter, M.S., Boezio, M., Di Felice, V., De Simone, N., Formato, V., Munini, R.: In: Proc. 33rd Int. Cosmic Ray Conf., Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (2013)
Acknowledgements
The authors wish to thank the GALPROP developers and their funding bodies for access to and use of the GALPROP WebRun service. DB thanks the South African National Research Foundation (NRF) and the Centre for Space Research at the NWU for providing him with a bursary for his PhD studies. MSP acknowledges the financial support of the NRF under the Incentive and Competitive Funding for Rated Researchers, grants no: 87820 and 68198.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Bisschoff, D., Potgieter, M.S. New local interstellar spectra for protons, helium and carbon derived from PAMELA and Voyager 1 observations. Astrophys Space Sci 361, 48 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10509-015-2633-8
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10509-015-2633-8