Cosmic-Ray Transport in Heliospheric Magnetic Structures. III. Implications of Solar Magnetograms for the Drifts of Cosmic Rays

The transport of energetic particles in the heliosphere is reviewed regarding the treatment of their drifts over an entire solar cycle including the periods around solar maximum, when the tilt angles of the heliospheric current sheet increase to large values and the sign of the magnetic polarity changes. While gradient and curvature drifts are well-established elements of the propagation of cosmic rays in the heliospheric magnetic field, their perturbation by the solar-activity-induced large-scale distortions of dipole-like field configurations and by magnetic turbulence is an open problem. Various empirical or phenomenological approaches have been suggested, but either lack a theory-based motivation or have been shown to be incompatible with measurements. We propose a new approach of more closely investigating solar magnetograms obtained from GONG maps, leading to a new definition of (i) tilt angles that may exceed those provided by the Wilcox Solar Observatory during high activity and of (ii) a noninteger sign that can be used to reduce the drifts during these periods as well as to provide a refinement of the magnetic field polarity. The change of sign from A < 0 to A > 0 of solar cycle 24 can be in this way localized to occur between Carrington Rotations 2139 and 2140 in mid 2013. This treatment is fully consistent in the sense that the transport modeling uses the same input data to formulate the boundary conditions at the heliobase as do the magnetohydrodynamic models of the solar wind and the embedded heliospheric magnetic field that exploit solar magnetograms as inner boundary conditions.

Automated summary

This study reviews the transport of energetic particles in the heliosphere, emphasizing the importance of gradient and curvature drifts in the propagation of cosmic rays. It also proposes a new approach to investigate solar magnetic activity cycles more closely in order to refine the description of magnetic field polarity.