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Analysis of Ground Level Events, Solar Flares, and Forbush Decreases

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posted on 2006-12-15, 00:00 authored by Christopher D'Andrea
The sun, while normally not a source for high energy cosmic rays, does still at times produce energetic events such as solar flares or coronal mass ejections. These events, as has been shown by ground level based detectors, have the capability to accelerate protons to energies on the order of 1~GeV. Ground level muon detector stations are capable of detecting secondary muons from energies greater than 20~GeV. However such detections are extremely rare. Project GRAND, an array of ground level secondary muon stations, with an angular resolution of 0.26 degrees on a projected plane and a counting rate of 1800 muons/s, is an excellent tool for detecting ground level events associated with solar phenomena. The ground level muon counting rate for two solar X-ray flares (April 15, 2001 and January 20, 2005) are examined in detail for evidence of an enhancement immediately following the X-ray flares. The ground level counting rate during the October 29, 2003 Forbush decrease is examined and a simple model for the propagation of ejecta from a coronal mass ejections is presented.

History

Date Modified

2017-06-05

Defense Date

2006-12-07

Research Director(s)

Dinshaw Balsara

Committee Members

Howard Blackstead Neil Cason Terry Rettig Dinshaw Balsara John Poirier

Degree

  • Doctor of Philosophy

Degree Level

  • Doctoral Dissertation

Language

  • English

Alternate Identifier

etd-12152006-163423

Publisher

University of Notre Dame

Program Name

  • Physics

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