Stochastic Simulation of Galactic Cosmic Ray Modulation with 3D Wavy Heliospheric Current Sheet Drifts at Solar Minimum

During the recent solar minimum the intensity of Galactic cosmic rays in the inner heliosphere reached a new space age high. Several factors have been proposed to explain this, for example, an unusually low magnetic field strength, a flattened current sheet, a low pressure solar wind, and a larger diffusion coefficient. This work focuses on a new 3D treatment of drift near the wavy heliospheric current sheet (HCS). We present solutions of Parker’s equation using this new treatment of HCS drift and discuss implications for solar modulation during the recent extraordinary solar minimum. This work is supported by NASA grant NNX07AH73G and NNX08BA62G.