Cosmic-Ray Interactions in the Solar Atmosphere

TL;DR

This paper investigates high-energy particle interactions in the solar atmosphere, revealing a refined magnetic field-pressure relationship using 3D MHD modeling, which impacts predictions of solar emission anisotropy.

Contribution

It provides a self-consistent 3D MHD analysis of magnetic field and gas pressure relations in the solar atmosphere, improving understanding of particle interactions and emission patterns.

Findings

Pressure scales as B^{2.9} with magnetic field strength.

Significant variation in flux tube behavior due to flux tube meandering.

Open flux in coronal holes mainly originates from weak-field regions.

Abstract

High-energy particles enter the solar atmosphere from Galactic or solar coronal sources, producing an "albedo'' source from the quiet Sun, now observable across a wide range of photon energies. The interaction of high-energy particles in a stellar atmosphere depends essentially upon the joint variation of the magnetic field and the gas, which heretofore has been characterized parametrically as P ~ B^alpha with P the gas pressure and B the magnitude of the magnetic field. We re-examine that parametrization by using a self-consistent 3D MHD model (Bifrost) and show that this relationship tends to P ~ B^{2.9+-0.1} based on the visible portions of the sample of open-field flux tubes in such a model, but with large variations from point to point. This scatter corresponds to the strong meandering of the open-field flux tubes in the lower atmosphere, which will have a strong effect on the prediction of the emission anisotropy (limb brightening). The simulations show that much of the open flux in coronal holes originates in weak-field regions within the granular pattern of the convective motions seen in the simulations.