Issue |
EPL
Volume 146, Number 2, April 2024
|
|
---|---|---|
Article Number | 24001 | |
Number of page(s) | 7 | |
Section | Nuclear and plasma physics, particles and fields | |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.1209/0295-5075/ad329c | |
Published online | 12 April 2024 |
Increase in the count rates of ground-based cosmic-ray detectors caused by the heliomagnetic disturbance on 5 November 2023
1 A. I. Alikhanyan National Lab (Yerevan Physics Institute) - Yerevan 0036, Armenia
2 Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY - Hamburg, Germany
3 Environmental Research Station Schneefernerhaus (UFS) - Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany
Received: 9 January 2024
Accepted: 11 March 2024
This letter presents a rare physical phenomenon associated with solar activity, manifesting in anomalies within neutron, electron, and gamma-ray fluxes in the atmosphere. Conventionally, the Earth's magnetic-field disturbances reduce cosmic-ray intensity reaching the surface. However, a temporary surge in cosmic-ray flux occurs intermittently known as the magnetospheric effect (ME). Our observations reveal that this effect predominantly induces a count rate increase in particle detectors positioned at middle latitudes on mountaintops. On November 5, 2023, a 2–3% increase in neutron monitors at mountain altitudes and up to 5% increase in thin plastic scintillators registering electrons and gamma rays was observed. This flux escalation coincided with a southward orientation of the interplanetary magnetic field. Importantly, we present, for the first time, the energy spectrum of the Magnetospheric Effect observed at two mountaintops: Aragats and Zugspitze. Simulations of low-energy proton interactions in the terrestrial atmosphere affirm the augmentation of low-energy cosmic rays. Protons, typically restricted by the geomagnetic cutoff, reached the Earth's atmosphere, generating detectable particle showers on the Earth's surface. To sum up, 1) we measure an increase in the count rate of magnetospheric origin using particle detectors located at mountain altitudes and middle latitudes; 2) for the first time, we measured the energy spectra of the particle fluxes during the magnetospheric effect with spectrometers located on Mount Aragats and Zugspitze; 3) particle flux enhancement coincides with the depletion of the horizontal component of the geomagnetic field; 4) we explain why the magnetospheric effect was observed at mountain altitudes and not at sea level.
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