Production of Cosmic Radiation at the Sun

Abstract

A calculation is made of the average production rate of 4-Bv cosmic-ray particles at the sun. The calculation is based upon the recent experimental evidence that the frequently occurring small solar flares produce temporary increases of neutron intensity in suitably located neutron pile detectors. This production rate, averaged over the 11-year solar cycle, is somewhat in excess of the absorption rate of 4-Bv particles by bodies in the solar system. If the production at the sun is to account for most of the observed cosmic radiation intensity, a trapping magnetic field is required. Limits on the size of such a trapping volume are estimated by considering the limits of cosmic-ray lifetime; the requirement of a high degree of radiation isotropy at the earth is satisfied. The existence of high-energy particles in the cosmic radiation imposes the principal difficulty for any solar origin hypothesis.