TL;DR
The paper suggests that the observed positron excess in cosmic rays is caused by heliospheric magnetic effects rather than local interstellar spectrum changes, predicting it will diminish during solar maximum.
Contribution
It introduces a heliospheric modulation model explaining the positron excess observed by PAMELA, challenging previous interpretations based solely on local interstellar spectra.
Findings
Positron excess correlates with heliospheric magnetic field structure.
Excess is predicted to decrease during solar maximum.
Heliospheric effects can mimic signals of new physics.
Abstract
The PAMELA satellite has observed an excess in the positron to electron ratio above theoretical predictions in the range 10 - 100 GeV that increases with energy. We propose that the excess is not due to a change in the local interstellar spectrum, but is due to heliospheric modulation. We motivate this from the known form of the heliospheric magnetic field and predict that the excess will disappear when we enter a period of solar maximum activity.
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