Mysterious High Energy Gamma Rays Might Help Explain What Drives Solar Cycles

TL;DR

This paper hypothesizes that electromagnetic interactions between the Sun and planets like Jupiter and Saturn influence solar gamma-ray emissions and may help explain the solar cycle dynamics.

Contribution

It introduces a novel hypothesis linking planetary electromagnetic connections to high-energy solar gamma-ray emissions and solar cycle modulation.

Findings

Gamma-ray emissions are most intense during Solar Minimum.

Electromagnetic connections between planets and the Sun may modulate solar cycles.

High-energy gamma rays are linked to planetary influences during Solar Minimum.

Abstract

This paper is in response to a technical paper, entitled "Evidence for a New Component of High-Energy Solar Gamma-Ray Production" (Linden, et al., 2018). An article in Scientific American entitled "The Sun Is Spitting Out Strange Patterns of Gamma Rays-and No One Knows Why" is a discussion of Linden's paper. It may be summarized as follows: The Sun has been observed to be emitting gamma ray bursts. The weaker gamma rays tend to be less than 50 GeV, emitted during the most active energetic period of the solar cycle and towards the poles. The gamma-ray emission is most intense during Solar Minimum, reaching >100 GeV and those emissions are near the equator: "Most strikingly, although 6 gamma rays above 100 GeV are observed during the 1.4 years of solar minimum, none are observed during the next 7.8 years (Linden, et al., 2018)." Pease and Glenn, in the conclusion of a recent paper, suggested that solar cycles are regulated by planetary orbital positions, influencing the Sun through transfer of gravitational or electromagnetic forces, or both (Pease & Glenn, 2016). This paper will describe a working hypothesis that points strongly to electromagnetic connections between Jupiter, Saturn, and the Sun during Solar Minimum which contribute to the high gamma-ray energy observed being emitted by the Sun. The hypothesis further suggests that the electromagnetic connections between the Sun and Jupiter, Saturn, and other planets with magnetospheres, namely Neptune, Earth, and Uranus, are responsible over billions of years for modulating a dual electromagnetic field resonance internal to the Sun. These major periodic cycles are known as the 11-year Schwabe and 22-year Hale solar cycles.