Search

We consider the possibility that the cosmic-ray knee is produced by a change in the nature of the hadronic interaction at approximately 1 TeV center of mass. Specifically we explore the result of the opening up of a new production channel whose output is undetectable by current air shower techniques.

We have designed and built an instrument to measure and monitor the "nightglow" of the Earth's atmosphere in the near ultraviolet (NUV). In this paper we describe the design of this instrument, called NIGHTGLOW. NIGHTGLOW is designed to be flown-from a high altitude research balloon, and circumnavigate the globe. NIGHTGLOW is a NASA, University of Utah, and New Mexico State University project. A test flight took place from Palestine, Texas on July 5, 2000, lasting about 8 hours. The instrument performed well and landed safely in Stiles, Texas with little damage. The resulting measurements of the NUV nightglow are consistent with previous measurements from sounding rockets and balloons. The results will be presented and discussed.

Detection of cosmic-ray antiprotons was first reported by Golden et al. in 1979 and their existence was firmly established by the BESS and IMAX collaborations in the early 1990s. Increasingly precise measurements of the antiproton spectrum, most recently from BESS-Polar and PAMELA, have made it an important tool for investigating cosmic-ray transport in the galaxy and heliosphere and for constraining dark-matter models. The history of antiproton measurements will be briefly reviewed. The current status will be discussed, focusing on the results of BESS-Polar II and their implications for the possibility of antiprotons from primordial black hole evaporation. The current results of the BESS-Polar II antihelium search are also presented.

The balloon-borne Isotope Matter-Antimatter Experiment (IMAX) was flown from Lynn Lake, Manitoba, Canada on 16-17 July 1992. Using velocity and magnetic rigidity to determine mass, we have directly measured the abundances of cosmic ray antiprotons and protons in the energy range from 0.25 to 3.2 GeV. Both the absolute flux of antiprotons and the antiproton/proton ratio are consistent with recent theoretical work in which antiprotons are produced as secondary products of cosmic ray interactions with the interstellar medium. This consistency implies a lower limit to the antiproton lifetime of similar to 10(7) yr.

The angular resolution of Chandra is close to the practical limit of grazing incidence telescopes due to the difficulty of imparting an accurate figure and smooth surface to mirror substrates whose physical area is over two orders of magnitude larger than their effective area. However, important scientific objectives lie beyond the reach of Chandra and all future missions being planned by the space agencies. By transmitting X-rays diffractive and refractive optics are not subject to the same limitations and have a superior diffraction limit. A Fresnel zone plate can be paired with a refractive lens such that their intrinsic chromatic aberrations cancel to 1st order at a specific energy. The result is a limited but significant energy band where the resolution is a milli arc second or better, for example, at 6 keV. Chromatic aberration can be corrected to 2nd order by separating the diffractive and refractive elements. This configuration allows a resolution of a few micro arc seconds. The optics are very light weight but have extremely long focal lengths resulting in a requirement for very long distance formation flying between optics and detector spacecraft, and small fields of view. Opacity of the refractive element imposes a lower limit upon the X-ray energy of about a few keV.

In order to evaluate the response to cosmic-ray nuclei of a Compton-Scatter Transition Radiation Detector in the proposed ACCESS space-based mission, a hybrid Monte Carlo simulation using GEANT3 and an external transition radiation (TR) generator routine was constructed. This simulation was employed to study the effects of delta-ray production induced by high-energy nuclei and to maximize the ratio of TR to delta-ray background. The results demonstrate the ability of a Compton-Scatter Transition Radiation Detector to measure nuclei from boron to iron up to Lorentz factors ~ 10^5 taking into account the steeply falling power-law cosmic ray spectra., Comment: Presented at TRDs for the 3rd millennium: Third Workshop on advanced Transition Radiation Detectors for accelerator and space applications, Ostuni, Italy, September 2005, 4 pages, 2 figures

The rare isotopes ^(2)H and ^(3)He in cosmic rays are believed to originate mainly from the interaction of high energy protons and helium with the galactic interstellar medium. The unique propagation history of these rare isotopes provides important constraints on galactic cosmic ray source spectra and on models for their propagation within the Galaxy. Hydrogen and helium isotopes were measured with the balloon-borne experiment, IMAX, which flew from Lynn Lake, Manitoba in 1992. The energy spectrum of deuterium between 0.5 and 3.2 GeV/nucleon measured by the IMAX experiment as well as previously published results of ^(3)He from the same instrument will be compared with predictions of cosmic ray galactic propagation models. The observed composition of the light isotopes is found to be generally consistent with the predictions of the standard Leaky Box Model derived to fit observations of heavier nuclei

The cosmic-ray proton and helium spectra from 0.2 GeV nucleon^(-1) to about 200 GeV nucleon^(-1) have been measured with the balloon-borne experiment Isotope Matter-Antimatter Experiment (IMAX) launched from Lynn Lake, Manitoba, Canada, in 1992. IMAX was designed to search for antiprotons and light isotopes using a superconducting magnet spectrometer together with scintillators, a time-of-flight system, and Cherenkov detectors. Using redundant detectors, an extensive examination of the instrument efficiency was carried out. We present here the absolute spectra of protons and helium corrected to the top of the atmosphere and to interstellar space. If demodulated with a solar modulation parameter of Φ = 750 MV, the measured interstellar spectra between 20 and 200 GV can be represented by a power law in rigidity, with (1.42 ± 0.21) × 10^4R^(-2.71±0.04) (m^2 GV s sr)^(-1) for protons and (3.15 ± 1.03) × 10^3R^(-2.79±0.08) (m^2 GV s sr)^(-1) for helium.

In a one-day balloon flight of the Trans-Iron Galactic Element Recorder (TIGER) in 1997, the instrument achieved excellent charge resolution for elements near the Fe peak, permitting a new measurement of the element ratio Co/Ni. The best fit to the data, extrapolated to the top of the atmosphere, gives an upper limit for this ratio of 0.093±0.037 over the energy interval 0.8 to 4.3 GeV/nucleon; because a Co peak is not seen in the data, this result is given as an upper limit. Comparing this upper limit with calculations by Webber & Gupta suggests that at the source of these cosmic rays a substantial amount of the electron-capture isotope 59Ni survived. This conclusion is in conflict with the clear evidence from ACE/CRIS below 0.5 GeV/nucleon that there is negligible 59Ni surviving at the source. Possible explanations for this apparent discrepancy are discussed.

ACCESS is a large electronic cosmic-ray detector, designed for one of the zenith-pointing external attach points on the International Space Station. ACCESS addresses the fundamental astrophysical question: How do cosmic rays gain their enormous energies? It does this by combining two kinds of measurements. By determining the energy spectra of individual elements with atomic number (Z) in the interval 1⩽Z⩽28 up to an energy of 1015 eV, ACCESS will probe a region of the spectra where theories of supernova acceleration predict changes in the cosmic-ray element composition. By measuring individual element abundances at more moderate energies of every element in the entire periodic table, ACCESS will distinguish between competing theories of how the cosmic-ray nuclei are initially injected into the accelerator that gives them their high energies. ACCESS will identify the atomic number of incident cosmic-ray nuclei using silicon solid-state detectors Cherenkov detectors, and scintillators. It will measure the e...

High statistics observation of the highest energy cosmic rays is needed to extend the present data and resolve the astrophysical question of the origin of these particles. Use of the nitrogen fluorescence technique to make observations from space of the giant air showers induced by these cosmic rays is a promising approach. We consider the technical requirements upon an instrument capable of such measurements.

We describe a mission concept which has as its primary objective the measurement of the elemental abundances of galactic and solar energetic nuclei over the charge range of 14 less than or equal to Z less than or equal to 92. The instruments would have sufficient collecting power to improve the number of particles collected over that of previous measurements by more than an order of magnitude and, more important, will have the capability to clearly distinguish individual elements. These measurements are of fundamental importance to an understanding of the origin, nucleosynthesis, and acceleration of energetic galactic and solar particles.

A concept for observation from space of the highest energy cosmic rays above 1020 eV with a satellite-borne observatory has been considered. A maximum-energy auger (air)-shower satellite (MASS) would use segmented lenses (and/or mirrors) and an array of imaging devices (about 106 pixels) to detect and record fluorescent light profiles of cosmic ray cascades in the atmosphere. The field-of-view of MASS could be extended to about (1000 km)2 so that more than 103 events per year could be observed above 1020 eV. From far above the atmosphere, MASS would be capable of observing events at all angles including near horizontal tracks, and would have considerable aperture for high energy photon and neutrino observation. With a large aperture and the spatial and temporal resolution, MASS could determine the energy spectrum, the mass composition, and arrival anisotropy of cosmic rays from 1020 eV to 1022 eV, a region hitherto not explored by ground-based detectors such as the fly's eye and air-shower arrays. MASS's ability to identify comic neutrinos and gamma rays may help providing evidence for the theory which attributes the above cut-off cosmic ray flux to the decay of topological defects.© (1996) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.

We have proposed CALET (CALorimetric Electron Telescope) mission to make observations of high energy cosmic rays, electrons, gamma-rays, and nuclei, on the International Space Station (ISS). CALET mission has been approved as one of candidates for the next mission utilizing the Japanese Experiment Module (JEM). The detector of CALET consists of an imaging calorimeter (IMC) and a total absorption calorimeter (TASC). Main objective of cosmic-ray observation with CALET is to determine precise energy spectrum of electrons up to 20 TeV. As the super nova remnants (SNR) are taken to be sources of electrons, some structure caused by nearby electron sources is expected to appear in the energy spectrum over 1 TeV. Gamma-rays from 20 MeV to a few TeV can be also observed by CALET. Because a thick TASC of CALET gives high energy resolution, annihilation line of SUSY particle, which is a candidate of the dark matter, can be detected. Observation of nuclei is also possible up to 1000 TeV owing to the thick TASC. We have been going on conceptual design of CALET to clear a next judgment in one or two years to proceed to practical development for launching in 2013.

The Balloon-born Experiment with a Superconducting Spectrometer (BESS), aiming to search for antiparticles/antimatter in the cosmic radiation, successfully carried out the second scientific flight over Antarctica in 2007/2008 (BESS Polar-II), in the solar minimum period. The newly developed BESS Polar-II spectrometer including the solar-cell power supply system worked well during the flight, and more than 4.6 billion cosmic ray events were recorded for 24.5 days. This report describes overview of the scientific flight.

The Large Isotope Spectrometer for Astromag (LISA) is an experiment designed to measure the isotopic composition and energy spectra of cosmic rays for elements extending from beryllium through zinc. The overall objectives of this investigation are to study the origin and evolution of galactic matter; the acceleration, transport, and time scales of cosmic rays in the galaxy; and search for heavy antinuclei in the cosmic radiation. To achieve these objectives, the LISA experiment will make the first identifications of individual heavy cosmic ray isotopes in the energy range from about 2.5 to 4 GeV/n where relativistic time dilation effects enhance the abundances of radioactive clocks and where the effects of solar modulation and cross-section variations are minimized. It will extend high resolution measurements of individual element abundances and their energy spectra to energies of nearly 1 TeV/n, and has the potential for discovering heavy anti-nuclei which could not have been formed except in extragalactic sources.

A measurement of the spectral index of Galactic cosmic-ray (GCR) iron has been made using a high-energy gas Cerenkov spectrometer. The spectral index of GCR iron is found to be 2.56 + or - 0.11 in the energy range 57-200 GeV/ nucleon. This result indicates that the source spectrum of GCR iron is similar to that of other primary GCR nuclei and is consistent with the simplest models of GCR propagation.