Drift orbits of energetic particles in an interplanetary magnetic flux rope

Abstract

Interplanetary magnetic flux ropes have significant effects on the distribution of energetic particles in space. Flux ropes can confine solar energetic particles (SEPs) for hours, and have relatively low densities of Galactic cosmic rays (GCRs), as seen during second-stage Forbush decreases. As particle diffusion is apparently inhibited across the flux rope boundary, we suggest that guiding center drifts could play a significant role in particle motion into and out of the flux ropes. We develop an analytic model of the magnetic field in an interplanetary magnetic flux rope attached to the Sun at both ends, in quasi-toroidal coordinates, with the realistic features of a flux rope cross section that is small near the Sun, expanding with distance from the Sun, and field lines that are wound less tightly close to the Sun due to stretching by the solar wind. We calculate the particle drift velocity field due to the magnetic field curvature and gradient as a function of position and pitch-angle cosine, and trace particle guiding center orbits numerically, assuming conservation of the first adiabatic invariant. We find that SEPs in the interior of a flux rope can have drift orbits that are trapped for long times, as in a tokamak configuration, with resonant escape features as a function of the winding number. For Forbush decreases of GCRs, the drifts should contribute to a unidirectional anisotropy and net flow from one leg of the loop to the other, in a direction determined by the poloidal field direction. © 2009. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.