Cosmic-Ray Convection–Diffusion Anisotropy

Abstract

Abstract Under nonuniform convection, the distribution of diffusive particles can exhibit dipole and quadrupole anisotropy induced by the fluid inertial and shear force, respectively. These convection-related anisotropies, unlike the Compton–Getting effect, typically increase with the cosmic-ray (CR) energy, and are thus candidate contributors for the CR anisotropy. In consideration of the inertial effect, CR observational data can be used to set an upper limit on the average acceleration of the local interstellar medium in the equatorial plane to be on the order of 100 μm s−2. Using Oort constants, the quadrupole anisotropy above 200 TeV may be modeled with the shear effect arising from the Galactic differential rotation.