HR: 17:10h
AN: SH54A-03 [Abstracts]
TI: Antiprotons in the radiation belt
AU: Selesnick, R S
EM: richard.s.selesnick@aero.org
AF: The Aerospace Corporation, P.O. Box 92957, Los Angeles, CA 90009, United States
AU: Looper, M D
EM: mark.d.looper@aero.org
AF: The Aerospace Corporation, P.O. Box 92957, Los Angeles, CA 90009, United States
AU: * Mewaldt, R A
EM: rmewaldt@srl.caltech.edu
AF: California Institute of Technology, MC 220-47, Pasadena, CA 91125, United States
AU: Labrador, A W
EM: labrador@srl.caltech.edu
AF: California Institute of Technology, MC 220-47, Pasadena, CA 91125, United States
AB:
The main source of antiprotons for Earth's radiation belt is decay of albedo antineutrons formed by interactions of
cosmic rays with the atmosphere. This is analogous to the CRAND (cosmic ray albedo neutron decay) process
that is the main source of high-energy (>100~MeV) radiation belt protons. We describe the
intensity and spatial distribution of both the antiproton and proton components
based on numerical simulation of the inner radiation belt. The albedo process
is modeled using Geant4, a Monte Carlo nuclear transport code. Other model
inputs to the simulation include the galactic cosmic ray intensity, atmospheric
densities, the geomagnetic field, the radial (cross-L) diffusion coefficient,
cross sections for trapped particle losses due to inelastic nuclear processes
including annihilation, and rates of energy loss to ionization of the atmosphere.
The resulting antiproton intensity is compared to that from other sources.
DE: 2720 Energetic particles: trapped
DE: 2730 Magnetosphere: inner
DE: 2774 Radiation belts
DE: 7959 Models
DE: 7984 Space radiation environment
SC: SPA-Solar and Heliospheric Physics [SH]
MN: 2007 Joint Assembly