GCR flux 9-day variations with LISA Pathfinder

Abstract

Galactic cosmic-ray (GCR) energy spectra in the heliosphere vary on the basis of the level of solar activity, the status of solar polarity and interplanetary transient magnetic structures of solar origin. A high counting rate particle detector (PD) aboard LISA Pathfinder (LPF) allows for the measurement of galactic cosmic-ray and solar energetic particle (SEP) integral fluxes at energies > 70 MeV n−1 up to 6500 counts s−1. Data are gathered with a sampling time of 15 s. A study of GCR flux depressions associated with the third harmonic of the Sun rotation period (∼ 9 days) is presented here.