Long-term variations of interplanetary magnetic field spectra with implications for cosmic ray modulation

The paper calculates yearly averaged power spectra of interplanetary magnetic field turbulence at 1 AU over the period 1965-1988 for fluctuations in the frequency range 5.8 x 10 exp -6 to 4.6 x 10 exp -5 Hz, corresponding to periods of 6-48 hr. The amplitudes of the spectra vary with the sunspot cycle and are inversely correlated with the intensity of about 10-GeV cosmic rays. The observed spectra are used to calculate a lower limit to the cosmic ray scattering mean free path employing resonant magnetostatic quasi-linear theory for both 'slab' and isotropic geometries of the turbulence. The mean free paths thus obtained are typically about 0.1 AU in the slab model and about 0.3 AU in the isotropic model, but they are not significantly correlated with the modulated galactic cosmic ray intensity recorded by neutron monitors. It is inferred that the scattering processes described by resonant magnetostatic theory play, at best, a very minor role in the solar modulation of about 10-GeV cosmic rays.