High-energy galactic cosmic-ray composition measured in Gemini XI

1968 ◽  
Vol 46 (10) ◽  
pp. S569-S571 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. W. O'Dell ◽  
M. M. Shapiro ◽  
R. Silberberg ◽  
B. Stiller ◽  
C. H. Tsao ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Time Resolution ◽  
Chemical Elements ◽  
Relative Number ◽  
Cosmic Ray ◽  
High Energy ◽  
Heavy Nuclei ◽  
Earth’S Atmosphere ◽  
Nuclear Emulsion Detector ◽  
Earth's Atmosphere ◽  
Galactic Cosmic Ray

An oriented nuclear-emulsion detector capable of time resolution was exposed in Gemini Flight XI to investigate the primary cosmic-ray nuclei above the earth's atmosphere. This was the first satellite exposure of an emulsion apparatus designed to collect 103 high-quality tracks of heavy nuclei under a negligible thickness of matter (0.07 g/cm2). Time resolution was obtained by moving a lower stack, consisting of emulsions of various sensitivities, with respect to a shallower, sensitive upper stack at the rate of 25 microns/minute. It was thus possible to separate the "useful" tracks–formed during the oriented portion of the flight–from those formed at other times. Preliminary data are presented on the relative abundances of individual chemical elements in the high-energy cosmic radiation above the earth's atmosphere. These measurements are compared to published results obtained on balloon flights at similar latitudes. When sufficient data become available in a later phase of this experiment, particular attention will be directed towards the Be and B abundances, the N and F content relative to C and O, and the relative number of iron-group nuclei compared to the lighter ones.

IV. High energy neutrinos underground: status of the Case-Wits-Irvine experiment and future prospect

1967 ◽  
Vol 301 (1465) ◽  
pp. 125-135 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Neutrino Flux ◽  
Cosmic Ray ◽  
High Energy ◽  
Electron Neutrino ◽  
Neutrino Interaction ◽  
Large Area ◽  
Cosmic Ray Intensity ◽  
Detection Techniques ◽  
Earth’S Atmosphere ◽  
Earth's Atmosphere

It is part of the folklore of cosmic ray physics dating back to the 1940’s that if one could only go deeply enough underground with a suitably large detector, it would be possible to detect neutrinos in the cosmic radiation. I say ‘folklore’ because no estimates of flux were available, the variation of cosmic ray intensity with depth was known to very shallow depths indeed (a few hundred metres of rock), detection techniques were relatively insensitive and nothing was known about interaction cross-sections, let alone the existence of muon neutrinos. The intervening two decades have witnessed developments and discoveries in all these directions so that it became possible to calculate the spectra of high energy (> 1 GeV) neutrinos resulting from the interaction of cosmic ray primaries with the Earth’s atmosphere and to begin speculation regarding high energy extra terrestrial sources. Measure­ments at high energy machines made it possible to put a lower bound on the interaction of neutrinos in the supra machine range. The discovery of the muon neutrino revealed the existence of a product with long range, the muon, which results from the interaction of muon type neutrinos with nuclei. This feature of the neutrino interaction, the muon associated neutrino, is central to all cosmic ray detection schemes. The electron-neutrino interaction observed long ago by the Los Alamos group is relatively ineffective because of the short range of the product electron. The great strides made in the field of particle detection with the development of efficient and relatively inexpensive large area scintillation detectors showed that finite count rates, ca . 10/y, could be expected from detectors measuring ca . 10 2 m 2 in area. Finally, the measurements of the intensity of cosmic rays with depth-pursued most effectively by the groups working at the Kolar Gold Fields in India-showed that neutrino interactions could be sought in existing deep mines without too much trouble from cosmic ray muons which succeeded in penetrating from the surface of the Earth to the detector. The motivation for seeking to measure and understand the high energy neutrino flux from our atmosphere and beyond is twofold: (1) This source, though weak and not under our control, is of much higher energy than available, or is likely to become available, in the laboratory for some time to come. It is generally recognized that energy is a prime factor in probing the structure of the weak interaction. (2) A curiosity regarding the existence and nature of sources of extraterrestrial neutrinos. A more mundane but perfectly valid reason for studying atmospheric neutrinos is a desire to ‘tidy up’ the record of cosmic ray components as they are produced and interact in the Earth’s atmosphere.

High-energy cosmic ray muons in the Earth’s atmosphere

2013 ◽  
Vol 116 (3) ◽  
pp. 395-413 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. A. Kochanov ◽  
T. S. Sinegovskaya ◽  
S. I. Sinegovsky
Keyword(s):  
Cosmic Ray ◽  
High Energy ◽  
Earth’S Atmosphere ◽  
Earth's Atmosphere

scholarly journals The theory of cosmic ray scattering on pre-existing MHD modes meets data

2021 ◽  
Vol 502 (4) ◽  
pp. 5821-5838
Author(s):  
Ottavio Fornieri ◽  
Daniele Gaggero ◽  
Silvio Sergio Cerri ◽  
Pedro De La Torre Luque ◽  
Stefano Gabici
Keyword(s):  
Diffusion Coefficients ◽  
Galactic Halo ◽  
Dominant Role ◽  
Cosmic Ray ◽  
High Energy ◽  
Scattering Rate ◽  
Equilibrium Spectrum ◽  
Galactic Cosmic Ray ◽  
Comprehensive Study ◽  
Ray Scattering

ABSTRACT We present a comprehensive study about the phenomenological implications of the theory describing Galactic cosmic ray scattering on to magnetosonic and Alfvénic fluctuations in the GeV−PeV domain. We compute a set of diffusion coefficients from first principles, for different values of the Alfvénic Mach number and other relevant parameters associated with both the Galactic halo and the extended disc, taking into account the different damping mechanisms of turbulent fluctuations acting in these environments. We confirm that the scattering rate associated with Alfvénic turbulence is highly suppressed if the anisotropy of the cascade is taken into account. On the other hand, we highlight that magnetosonic modes play a dominant role in Galactic confinement of cosmic rays up to PeV energies. We implement the diffusion coefficients in the numerical framework of the dragon code, and simulate the equilibrium spectrum of different primary and secondary cosmic ray species. We show that, for reasonable choices of the parameters under consideration, all primary and secondary fluxes at high energy (above a rigidity of $\simeq 200 \, \mathrm{GV}$) are correctly reproduced within our framework, in both normalization and slope.

scholarly journals Calculating the ionization rate induced by GCR and SCR protons in Earth’s atmosphere

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 68-74
Author(s):  
Евгений Маурчев ◽  
Evgeniy Maurchev ◽  
Юрий Балабин ◽  
Yuriy Balabin ◽  
Алексей Германенко ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Primary Particle ◽  
Cosmic Ray ◽  
Ground Level ◽  
Ionization Rate ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Energy Distributions ◽  
Earth’S Atmosphere ◽  
Geomagnetic Cutoff Rigidity ◽  
Geomagnetic Cutoff ◽  
Earth's Atmosphere

This paper explores the applied use of the RUSCOSMICS software package [http://ruscosmics.ru] designed to simulate propagation of primary cosmic ray (CR) particles through Earth’s atmosphere and collect information about characteristics of their secondary component. We report the results obtained for proton fluxes with energy distributions corresponding to the differential spectra of galactic CR (GCR) and solar CR (SCR) during ground level enhancement (GLE) events GLE65 and GLE67. We examine features of the geometry of Earth’s atmosphere, parametrization methods, and describe a primary particle generator. The typical energy spectra of electrons obtained both for GCR and for GLE65 provide information that allows us to quantitatively estimate the SCR contribution to the enhancement of secondary CR fluxes. We also present altitude dependences of ionization rate for GCR and both the GLE events for several geomagnetic cutoff rigidity values. The conclusion summarizes and discusses the prospects for future research.

scholarly journals Cosmic ray transport and anisotropies to high energies

2015 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
pp. 39-44 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. L. Biermann ◽  
L. I. Caramete ◽  
A. Meli ◽  
B. N. Nath ◽  
E.-S. Seo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cosmic Ray ◽  
High Energy ◽  
Wave Number ◽  
Ultra High Energy ◽  
Galactic Magnetic Field ◽  
Chemical Abundances ◽  
High Energy Cosmic Rays ◽  
High Energies ◽  
Isotropic Approximation ◽  
Galactic Cosmic Ray

Abstract. A model is introduced, in which the irregularity spectrum of the Galactic magnetic field beyond the dissipation length scale is first a Kolmogorov spectrum k-5/3 at small scales λ = 2 π/k with k the wave-number, then a saturation spectrum k-1, and finally a shock-dominated spectrum k-2 mostly in the halo/wind outside the Cosmic Ray disk. In an isotropic approximation such a model is consistent with the Interstellar Medium (ISM) data. With this model we discuss the Galactic Cosmic Ray (GCR) spectrum, as well as the extragalactic Ultra High Energy Cosmic Rays (UHECRs), their chemical abundances and anisotropies. UHECRs may include a proton component from many radio galaxies integrated over vast distances, visible already below 3 EeV.

scholarly journals Impact of Cosmic-Ray Physics on Dark Matter Indirect Searches

2018 ◽  
Vol 2018 ◽  
pp. 1-23 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniele Gaggero ◽  
Mauro Valli
Keyword(s):  
Dark Matter ◽  
Cosmic Ray ◽  
High Energy ◽  
Research Field ◽  
Current Data ◽  
Weakly Interacting Massive Particles ◽  
Beyond The Standard Model ◽  
High Energy Astrophysics ◽  
Classical Plasma ◽  
Galactic Cosmic Ray

The quest for the elusive dark matter (DM) that permeates the Universe (and in general the search for signatures of physics beyond the Standard Model at astronomical scales) provides a unique opportunity and a tough challenge to the high energy astrophysics community. In particular, the so-called DMindirect searches—mostly focused on a class of theoretically well-motivated DM candidates such as the weakly interacting massive particles—are affected by a complex astrophysical background of cosmic radiation. The understanding and modeling of such background require a deep comprehension of an intricate classical plasma physics problem, i.e., the interaction between high energy charged particles, accelerated in peculiar astrophysical environments, and magnetohydrodynamic turbulence in the interstellar medium of our galaxy. In this review we highlight several aspects of this exciting interplay between the most recent claims of DM annihilation/decay signatures from the sky and the galactic cosmic-ray research field. Our purpose is to further stimulate the debate about viable astrophysical explanations, discussing possible directions that would help breaking degeneracy patterns in the interpretation of current data. We eventually aim to emphasize how a deep knowledge on the physics of CR transport is therefore required to tackle the DM indirect search program at present and in the forthcoming years.

scholarly journals Composition and Galactic Confinement of Cosmic Rays

1971 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
pp. 740-756
Author(s):  
Maurice M. Shapiro
Keyword(s):  
Cosmic Rays ◽  
Cosmic Ray ◽  
High Energy ◽  
Galactic Cosmic Rays ◽  
Interstellar Space ◽  
Heavy Nuclei ◽  
High Energy Astrophysics ◽  
Transit Times ◽  
The Galaxy ◽  
Path Lengths

The ‘Galactic’ cosmic rays impinging on the Earth come from afar over tortuous paths, traveling for millions of years. These particles are the only known samples of matter that reach us from regions of space beyond the solar system. Their chemical and isotopic composition and their energy spectra provide clues to the nature of cosmic-ray sources, the properties of interstellar space, and the dynamics of the Galaxy. Various processes in high-energy astrophysics could be illuminated by a more complete understanding of the arriving cosmic rays, including the electrons and gamma rays.En route, some of theprimordialcosmic-ray nuclei have been transformed by collision with interstellar matter, and the composition is substantially modified by these collisions. A dramatic consequence of the transformations is the presence in the arriving ‘beam’ of considerable fluxes of purely secondary elements (Li, Be, B), i.e., species that are, in all probability, essentially absent at the sources. We shall here discuss mainly the composition of the arriving ‘heavy’ nuclei -those heavier than helium - and what they teach us about thesourcecomposition, the galactic confinement of the particles, their path lengths, and their transit times.

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