NUMERICAL STUDY OF THE LONGITUDINALLY ASYMMETRIC DISTRIBUTION OF SOLAR ENERGETIC PARTICLES IN THE HELIOSPHERE

Journal Article · Mon Jun 22 04:00:00 EDT 2015 · Astrophysical Journal, Supplement Series

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1088/0067-0049/218/2/17· OSTI ID:22520211

He, H. -Q.

Solar energetic particles (SEPs) affect the solar–terrestrial space environment and are very important to space weather research. In this work, we numerically investigate the transport processes of SEPs in the three-dimensional interplanetary magnetic field, with an emphasis on the longitudinal distribution of SEPs in the heliosphere. We confirm our previous finding that there exists an east–west longitudinal asymmetry in the SEP intensities, i.e., with the same longitude separations between the solar source centers and the magnetic footpoint of the observer, the fluxes of SEP events originating from solar sources located on the eastern side of the nominal magnetic footpoint of the observer are systematically larger than those of the SEP events originating from sources located on the western side. We discuss the formation mechanism of this phenomenon, and conclude that the longitudinally asymmetric distribution of SEPs results from the east–west azimuthal asymmetry in the topology of the heliospheric magnetic field as well as the effects of perpendicular diffusion on the transport of SEPs in the heliosphere. Our results will be valuable to understanding Sun–Earth relations and useful for space weather forecasting.

• OSTI ID: 22520211
• Journal Information: Astrophysical Journal, Supplement Series, Journal Name: Astrophysical Journal, Supplement Series Journal Issue: 2 Vol. 218; ISSN 0067-0049; ISSN APJSA2
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS
ASYMMETRY
DIFFUSION
HELIOSPHERE
INTERPLANETARY MAGNETIC FIELDS
NUMERICAL ANALYSIS
SOLAR PARTICLES
SPACE
SUN