The mean free path of low-rigidity cosmic rays

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19790019943.pdf (6.05 MB)

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https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1029/JA085iA06p03033

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https://doi.org/10.1029/JA085iA06p03033
 http://hdl.handle.net/11603/30512

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UMBC Goddard Planetary Heliophysics Institute (GPHI)

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Author/Creator ORCID

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5317-988X

Date

1980-06-01

Type of Work

journal articles
preprints
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Citation of Original Publication

Goldstein, Melvyn L. “The Mean Free Path of Low-Rigidity Cosmic Rays.” Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics 85, no. A6 (1980): 3033–36. https://doi.org/10.1029/JA085iA06p03033.

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This work was written as part of one of the author's official duties as an Employee of the United States Government and is therefore a work of the United States Government. In accordance with 17 U.S.C. 105, no copyright protection is available for such works under U.S. Law.
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Abstract

A simple heuristic argument is presented which suggests that the large rigidity-independent mean free paths observed for low-rigidity solar and galactic cosmic rays can be understood in terms of weak turbulence diffusion theory if one assumes that the interplanetary magnetic turbulence consists of a combination of Alfvén waves propagating with constant field magnitude and a small (∼5–10%) admixture of compressive fluctuations.