Very Local Impact on the Spectrum of Cosmic-Ray Nuclei below 100 TeV

Abstract

Recent measurements of primary and secondary CR spectra, their arrival directions, and our improved knowledge of the magnetic field geometry around the heliosphere allow us to set a bound on the distance beyond which a puzzling 10-TeV “bump” and certain related spectral features cannot originate. The sharpness of the spectral breaks associated with the bump, the abrupt change of the CR intensity across the local magnetic equator (90° pitch angle), and the similarity between the primary and secondary CR spectral patterns point to a local reacceleration of the bump particles out of the background CRs. We argue that, owing to a steep preexisting CR spectrum, a nearby shock may generate such a bump by boosting particle rigidity by a mere factor of ∼1.5 in the range below 50 TV. Reaccelerated particles below ∼0.5 TV are convected with the interstellar medium flow and do not reach the Sun. The particles above this rigidity then form the bump. This single universal process is responsible for the observed spectral features of all CR nuclei, primary and secondary, in the rigidity range below 100 TV. We propose that one viable candidate is the system of shocks associated with ∊ Eridani star at 3.2 pc of the Sun, which is well aligned with the direction of the local magnetic field. Other shocks, such as old supernova shells, may produce a similar effect. We provide a simple formula that reproduces the spectra of all CR species with only three parameters uniquely derived from the CR proton data. We show how our formalism predicts helium, boron, carbon, oxygen, and iron spectra, for which accurate data in GV-TV range exist. Our model thus unifies all the CR spectral features observed below 50 TV.