Many data on sidereal time variation of cosmic rays have been reported in the energy region mainly 10
13 to 10
18eV from air shower experiment at various places. These data show that both the amplitude and the time of maximum of sidereal daily variation change systematically with primary energy of air showers, that is, the time of maximum is at about 20 hour for energy less than 5×10
15eV and turns to 12 hour in sidereal time for the higher energies. At the same time, amplitude shows a constant value of about 0.5% for the lower energy and it increases with the energy at the higher energy region. These tendencies that the sidereal variations change with the primary energy are statistically significant. Though Greisen suggested that data reported by many observers did not represent real anisotropy in consequence of statistical cause and atmospheric effect, it is thought that the energy dependent sidereal variation shows the existence of the anisotropy and this is interpreted as follows.
On the assumption that a magnetic field of the order of the 10
-5 gauss lies along a spiral arm of the Galaxy pointing to the outward-directed spiral arm and our solar system locates near the boundary of the arm, the above anisotropy can be explained by considering diffusion of cosmic rays in the arm. That is, the time of maximum in the lower energy region, 20 hour, corresponds to one of the direction of flow along the field lines, while the time of maxmum in the higher energy region, 12 hour, and also the energy dependence of the amplitude are expected as the results of the diffusion of cosmic rays due to the density gradient from the axis to the boundary of the arm.
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