Coronal radiation belts

TL;DR

This paper explores the existence of stable, large-scale coronal radiation belts formed by high-energy ions trapped in the solar corona's magnetic fields, resembling Earth's Van Allen Belts.

Contribution

It demonstrates that high-energy ions can be stably trapped in the solar corona's large-scale magnetic fields, revealing a potential new class of solar radiation belts.

Findings

High-energy ions can be stably trapped in coronal magnetic fields.

Trapped particles may have detectable effects.

Coronal radiation belts resemble Earth's Van Allen Belts.

Abstract

The magnetic field of the solar corona has a large-scale dipole character, which maps into the bipolar field in the solar wind. Using standard representations of the coronal field, we show that high-energy ions can be trapped stably in these large-scale closed fields. The drift shells that describe the conservation of the third adiabatic invariant may have complicated geometries. Particles trapped in these zones would resemble the Van Allen Belts and could have detectable consequences. We discuss potential sources of trapped particles.