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Interplanetary coronal mass ejections (ICMEs), generally containing magnetic clouds (MCs), are associated with galactic-cosmic ray (GCR) intensity depressions known as Forbush decreases (FDs). An ICME was observed at L1 between 2016 August 2 at 14:00 UT and August 3 at 03:00 UT. The MC region was identified and its magnetic configuration was retrieved by using the Grad–Shafranov (GS) reconstruction. A weak FD in the GCR count-rate was observed on 2016 August 2 by a particle detector on board the European Space Agency LISA Pathfinder mission. The spacecraft orbited around L1 and the particle detector allowed us to monitor the GCR intensity at energies above 70 MeV n−1. A 9% decrease in the cosmic-ray intensity was observed during the ICME passage. The first structure of the ICME caused a 6.4% sharp decrease, while the MC produced a 2.6% decrease. A suited full-orbit test-particle simulation was performed on the MC configuration obtained through the GS reconstruction. The FD amplitude and time profile obtained through the simulation show an excellent agreement with observations. The test-particle simulation allows us to derive the energy dependence of the MC-driven FD providing an estimate of the amplitude at different rigidities, here compared with several neutron monitor observations. This work points out the importance of the large-scale MC configuration in the interaction between GCRs and ICMEs and suggests that particle drifts have a primary role in modulating the GCR intensity within the MC under study and possibly in at least all slowly expanding ICMEs lacking a shock/sheath region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• LISA PathFinders test mass effective charging. • Galactic Cosmic Ray interaction. • Low energy electrons. Galactic cosmic rays and solar energetic particles will induce spurious Coulomb forces on free-falling, gold-platinum test-masses on board the future interferometers for low-frequency gravitational wave detection in space. The European Space Agency mission LISA Pathfinder (LPF) was aimed to test the performance of instruments that will be placed on board LISA (Laser Interferometric Space Antenna), expected to be launched in 2034. Free-falling test-mass charging was measured on board LPF in 2016–2017. Simulations of this charging process were carried out before the mission launch with GEANT4 and Fluka Monte Carlo tools. A very good agreement was found between net charging measurements and simulations, while the shot noise, associated with the charging process, resulted 3–4 times larger than expected. New dedicated simulations aiming to study in detail the low-energy electron emission from metal electrodes surrounding the test-masses reveal that the mismatch between measurements and former simulations may be due to the lack of propagation of electrons with energies smaller than the average ionization potential in the Monte Carlo tools mentioned above. Preliminary results are presented and discussed here. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The role of high-energy particles in limiting the performance of on-board instruments was studied for the European Space Agency (ESA) Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) Pathfinder (LPF) and ESA/National Astronautics and Space Administration Solar Orbiter missions. Particle detectors (PD) placed on board the LPF spacecraft allowed for testing the reliability of pre-launch predictions of galactic cosmic-ray (GCR) energy spectra and for studying the modulation of proton and helium overall flux above 70 MeV n − 1 on a day-by-day basis. GCR flux variations up to approximately 15% in less than a month were observed with LPF orbiting around the Lagrange point L1 between 2016 and 2017. These variations appeared barely detected or undetected in neutron monitors. In this work the LPF data and contemporaneous observations carried out with the magnetic spectrometer AMS-02 experiment are considered to show the effects of GCR flux short-term variations with respect to monthly averaged measurements. Moreover, it is shown that subsequent large-scale interplanetary structures cause a continuous modulation of GCR fluxes. As a result, small Forbush decreases cannot be considered good proxies for the transit of interplanetary coronal mass ejections and for geomagnetic storm forecasting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]