Neutrons from 9Be/alpha,n/ reaction for E alpha between 6 and 10 MeV
Neutron energy spectra measured as function of neutron emission angle and ion bombardment energy
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Neutron energy spectra measured as function of neutron emission angle and ion bombardment energy
Energy spectra and angular distribution data on generation and interaction of high energy muons with thick targets
The galactic cosmic ray and solar flare experiment on Apollo 16 is reported. The published papers presented describe the experiment, equipment, data processing techniques, and operational history. The principle findings include: (1) The composition of heavy ions in interplanetary space at energies between approximately 30 and 130 MeV/nucleon is the same, within experimental errors. (2) The ability of a Lexan stack to determine simultaneously the energy spectra of major elements from He up to Fe in the energy interval 0.2 to 30 MeV/nucleon revealed systematic changes in the composition of solar flare particles as a function of energy. (3) Heavy ions emitted in a solar flare appear to be completely stripped of electrons, and are not in charge equilibrium at the time of acceleration and releases from the sun.
An experimental arrangement for studying multiple hadrons produced in high-energy hadron-nucleus interactions is under construction at the university of Turku. The method of investigation is based on the detection of hadrons arriving simultaneously at sea level over an area of a few square meters. The apparatus consists of a hadron spectrometer with position-sensitive detectors in connection with a small air shower array. The position resolution using streamer tube detectors will be about 10 mm. Energy spectra of hadrons or groups of simultaneous hadrons produced at primary energies below 10 to the 16th power eV can be measured in the energy range 1 to 2000 GeV.
The potential of the Space Station as a platform for cosmic-ray and high-energy gamma-ray astronomy is discussed in reviews, reports, and specific proposals. Topics examined include antiparticles and electrons, science facilities and new technology, high-energy nuclear interactions, nuclear composition and energy spectra, Space Shuttle experiments, Space Station facilities and detectors, high-energy gamma rays, and gamma-ray facilities and techniques. Consideration is given to universal-baryon-symmetry testing on the scale of galactic clusters, particle studies in a high-inclination orbit, balloon-borne emulsion-chamber results on ultrarelativistic nucleus-nucleus interactions, ionization states of low-energy cosmic rays, a large gamma-ray telescope for point-source studies above 1 GeV, and the possible existence of stable quark matter.
The experimental work carried out under this contract is a continuation of that originally performed under Contracts NAS5-20062 and NAS5-26739. The data analyzed are from the Max-Planck Institut/Univ. of Maryland experiment on ISEE-1 and ISEE-3. Each spacecraft experiment consists of a nearly identical set of three sensors (designated the ULECA, ULEWAT, and ULEZEQ sensors) designed to measure the energy spectra and composition of suprathermal and energetic ions over a broad energy range (less than 3 keV/e to more than 20 MeV/nucleon). Since the launch of ISEE's 2 and 3, the MPI/Univ. of Maryland experiments have generally performed as expected except for a partial failure of the ULEWAT sensor on ISEE-1 in August 1978. A number of scientific studies have either been completed, initiated or are at various stages of completion. A brief summary of Primary Results is given, followed by a more detailed summary of the major accomplishments at the Univ. of Maryland.
We review recent hard X-ray and gamma-ray observations of Cen A, NGC 4151, 3C273, and 3C279. The new data showed remarkable variability of these objects in the high-energy gamma-ray regime. Recent observations by GRANAT show an unexpected sharp break at about 50 keV in the 1990 spectrum of NGC 4151. Recent observations by the Compton Observatory show intense GeV emission from 3C279 in June 1991. We present composite energy spectra of these objects from the radio to gamma-ray energies.
The Transport project's primary goals were to: (1) Provide measurements of critical fragmentation cross sections; (2) Study the cross section systematics; (3) Improve the galactic cosmic ray propagation methodology; and (4) Use the new cross section measurements to improve the interpretation of cosmic ray data. To accomplish these goals a collaboration was formed consisting of researchers in the US at Louisiana State University (LSU), Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory (LBL), Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), the University of Minnesota (UM), New Mexico State University (NMSU), in France at the Centre d'Etudes de Saclay and in Italy at the Universita di Catania. The US institutions, lead by LSU, were responsible for measuring new cross sections using the LBL HISS facility, analysis of these measurements and their application to interpreting cosmic ray data. France developed a liquid hydrogen target that was used in the HISS experiment and participated in the data interpretation. Italy developed a Multifunctional Neutron Spectrometer (MUFFINS) for the HISS runs to measure the energy spectra, angular distributions and multiplicities of neutrons emitted during the high energy interactions. The Transport Project was originally proposed to NASA during Summer, 1988 and funding began January, 1989. Transport was renewed twice (1991, 1994) and finally concluded at LSU on September, 30, 1997. During the more than 8 years of effort we had two major experiment runs at LBL, obtained data on the interaction of twenty different beams with a liquid hydrogen target, completed the analysis of fifteen of these datasets obtaining 590 new cross section measurements, published nine journal articles as well as eighteen conference proceedings papers, and presented more than thirty conference talks.
We report on observations of the abundances of elements from Helium to Nickel in over 50 different solar energetic particle events using the Solar Isotope Spectrometer (SIS) on-board the Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE) spacecraft. It had originally been expected that the energy spectra of different elements would show spectral roll-overs at energies related to the Q/M ratio of each element. Due to the partial stripping of Fe and essentially complete stripping of O, it was expected that the Fe/O ratio would be observed to decrease with increasing energy. While many events show this pattern, others have Fe/O which is constant with energy, while for yet others Fe/O actually increases with energy. Events having constant Fe/O could simply have their spectral breaks outside of the observed energy range. However, events which show increasing Fe/O cannot be explained within the framework of spectral breaks. Possible explanations include injection of remnant heavy ions from earlier impulsive events, hybrid Events consisting of a combination of flare-accelerated and shock-accelerated particles from a single solar event, and some new physical process in shock acceleration. We will report on efforts to distinguish these possible explanations.
The apex of the Balloon-borne Experiment with a Superconducting Spectrometer program was reached with the Antarctic flight of BESS-Polar II, during the 2007-2008 Austral Summer, that obtained 24.5 days of data on over 4.7 billion cosmic-ray events. The US-Japan BESS Collaboration uses elementary particle measurements to study the early Universe and provides fundamental data on the spectra of light cosmic-ray elements and isotopes. BESS measures the energy spectra of cosmic-ray antiprotons to investigate signatures of possible exotic sources, such as dark-matter candidates, and searches for heavier anti-nuclei that might reach Earth from antimatter domains formed during symmetry breaking processes in the early Universe. Since 1993, BESS has carried out eleven high-latitude balloon flights, two of long duration, that together have defined the study of antiprotons below about 4 GeV, provided standard references for light element and isotope spectra, and set the most sensitive limits on the existence of anti-deuterons and anti-helium, The BESS-Polar II flight took place at Solar Minimum, when the sensitivity of the low-energy antiproton measurements to a primary source is greatest. The rich BESS-Polar II dataset more than doubles the combined data from all earlier BESS flights and has 10-20 times the statistics of BESS data from the previous Solar Minimum. Here, we summarize the scientific results of BESS program, focusing on the results obtained using data from the long-duration flights of BESS-Polar I (2004) and BESS-Polar II.
Recent experiments have extended the knowledge of the flux and energy spectra of individual cosmic-ray components to much higher energies than had previously been accessible. Both electron and nuclear components show a behavior at high energy which is unexpected, and which carries information regarding the sources and the propagation of particles between sources and observer. Electromagnetic interactions which are suffered by the electrons in interstellar space should steepen their spectrum, a steepening that would reveal the average lifetime a cosmic-ray particle spends in the galaxy. Measurements up to 1000 GeV show no such steepening. It was discovered that the composition of the nuclear species which is now measured up to 100 GeV/nucleon changes with energy. This change indicates traversal of less interstellar matter by the high energy particles than by those of lower energy.-
FORTRAN 4 computer program for gamma ray energy spectra, determining peak locations, peak areas and elemental abundances
The Advanced Thin Ionization Calorimeter (ATIC) instrument is a balloon-borne experiment designed to measure the composition and energy spectra of Z = l to 26 cosmic rays over the energy range from approx. 10(exp 11) to approx. 10(exp 14) eV. The instrument consists of a silicon matrix charge detector, plastic scintillator strip hodoscopes interleaved with graphite interaction targets, and a fully active Bismuth Germanate (BGO) calorimeter. ATIC had two successful Long Duration Balloon flights launched from McMurdo Station, Antarctica in 2000 and 2002. In this paper, spectra of various elements measured during the first 16 day flight are presented.
Active and passive dosimetry instrumentation to measure absorbed dose, charged particle spectra, and linear energy transfer spectra inside the command module and orbital workshop on the Skylab program were developed and tested. The active dosimetry system consists of one integral unit employing both a tissue equivalent ionization chamber and silicon solid state detectors. The instrument measures dose rates from 0.2 millirad/hour to 25 rads/hour, linear energy transfer spectra from 2.8 to 42.4 Kev/micron, and the proton and alpha particle energy spectra from 0.5 to 75 Mev. The active dosimeter is equipped with a portable radiation sensor for use in astronaut on-body and spacecraft shielding surveys during passage of the Skylab through significant space radiations. Data are transmitted in real time or are recorded by onboard spacecraft tape recorder for rapid evaluation of the radiation levels. The passive dosimetry systems consist of twelve (12) hard-mounted assemblies, each containing a variety of passive radiation sensors which are recoverable at the end of the mission for analysis.
In three balloon flights during 1971 and 1972 a scintillator-Cerenkov counter telescope was exposed for a net total of 7.6 sq m-ster-hr to measure the charge composition of cosmic-ray nuclei. The telescope includes two gas Cerenkov counters for energy measurements above 20 GeV/nucleon. In this energy range about 3400 nuclei between Li and Fe have been detected and analyzed. The resulting charge composition and energy spectra are presented. The nuclear composition has been found to change with energy. The flux of galactic daughter nuclei decreases faster with increasing energy than the flux of source nuclei. The carbon/oxygen abundance ratio is significantly reduced as compared to low-energy measurements, and iron seems to exhibit a flatter energy spectrum than other nuclei.
A rocket-borne experiment package has been designed to obtain simultaneous in situ measurements of the pitch angle distributions and energy spectra of primary auroral particles, the flux of neutral hydrogen at auroral energies, the electric currents flowing in the vicinity of the auroral arc as determined from vector magnetic data, and the modulation of precipitating electrons in the frequency range 0.5-10 MHz. The experiment package was launched by a Nike-Tomahawk rocket from Poker Flat, Alaska, at 0722 UT on Feb. 25, 1972, over a bright auroral band. This paper is intended to serve as an introduction to the detailed discussion of results given in the companion papers. As such it includes a brief review of the general problem, a discussion of the rocket instrumentation, a delineation of the auroral and geomagnetic conditions at the time of launch, and comments on the overall payload performance.
Hot accretion disks around massive, rotating black holes could exist in the centers of quasars. These hot accretion disks produce copious amounts of e(+)e(-) pairs, gamma-rays and X-rays. Most of the disk models that produce significant amounts of gamma-rays, say 10 percent of the total luminosity, and have an energy flux spectral index at X-rays of order unity, are optically thick to gamma-gamma pair production. Gamma-rays, therefore, more energetic than a few MeV do not escape from the disk but are degraded to lower energy radiation. The application of this picture to specific high-energy spectra of active galactic nuclei and quasars as well as high-energy background is explored. A hot accretion disk around a stellar black hole may also account for the positron source in the center of the Milky Way.
Both hydrodynamic calculations (Drury and Volk, 1981, and Axford et al., 1982) and kinetic simulations imply the existence of thermal subshocks in high-Mach-number cosmic-ray-mediated shocks. The injection efficiency of particles from the thermal background into the diffusive shock-acceleration process is determined in part by the sharpness and compression ratio of these subshocks. Results are reported for a Monte Carlo simulation that includes both the back reaction of accelerated particles on the inflowing plasma, producing a smoothing of the shock transition, and the free escape of particles allowing arbitrarily large overall compression ratios in high-Mach-number steady-state shocks. Energy spectra and estimates of the proportion of thermal ions accelerated to high energy are obtained.