The Cosmic-Ray Shadow of the Moon and Sun: Seven Years of Data from the IceCube Neutrino Observatory and Particle Propagation within the Solar Magnetic Field

The shadowing effect of the Moon and Sun in high-energy cosmic rays has been measured with high statistical significance by several experiments. Unlike particles from the direction of the Moon, charged particles passing the Sun are deflected due to the solar magnetic field. Because of this deflection, a change in the shape and depth of the cosmic-ray Sun shadow measured at Earth is expected. While the Moon shadow is used to estimate the angular resolution and to verify the stability of the IceCube detector, we use the Sun shadow in order to investigate a possible correlation between solar shadowing and solar activity, which is, in turn, a measure for the strength of the near magnetic field of the Sun. Ultimately, we aim to simulate both the Moon and Sun shadow in order to verify the data results and to quantitatively investigate particle deflection due to the solar magnetic field. In this talk, we present results from seven years of data from the IceCube Neutrino Observatory and first conclusions about the temporal variation of the cosmic-ray shadow of the Sun.