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Energy spectra and pitch angle distributions of storm-time and substorm injected protons.

Discussion of the energy spectra and pitch angle distributions of ring current protons observed with the solid-state proton detector of Explorer 45 during the main and fast recovery phases of a storm on Dec. 17, 1971. Appearances of characteristic changes in the pitch angle distributions of roughly 100-eV protons are interpreted as pitch angle dispersion of rapidly injected protons during their azimuthal drift at L values above 5.

Konradi, A.↗

The Energy Spectra of Heavy Nuclei Measured by the ATIC Experiment

ATIC (Advanced Thin Ionization Calorimeter) is a balloon-borne experiment to measure the spectra and composition of primary cosmic rays in the region of total energy from 100 GeV to near 100 TeV for Z from 1 to 26. ATIC consists of a pixelated silicon matrix detector to measure charge plus a fully active BGO calorimeter, to measure energy, located below a carbon target interleaved with three layers of scintillator hodoscope. The ATIC instrument had a second (scientific) flight from McMurdo, Antarctica from 12/29/02 to 1/18/03, yielding 20 days of good data. The GEANT 3.21 Monte Carlo code with the QGSM event generator and the FLUKA code with the DPMJET-II event generator were used to convert energy deposition measurements to primary energy. We present the preliminary energy spectra for the abundant elements C, O, Ne, Mg, Si and Fe and compare them with the results of the first (test) flight of ATIC in 2000-01 and with results from the HEAO-3 and CRN experiments.

Panov, A. D.↗

Soft X-ray Energy Spectra in the Wide-Field Galactic Disk Area Revealed with HaloSat

We analyzed data from HaloSat observations for five fields in the Galactic disk located far away from the Galactic center (135° < l < 254°) to understand the nature of soft X-ray energy emission in the Galactic disk. The fields have 14° diameter and were selected to contain no significant high-flux X-ray sources. All five HaloSat soft X-ray energy spectra (0.4–7 keV with energy resolution of < 100 eV below 1 keV) show a possibility of the presence of unresolved high-temperature plasma in the Galactic disk (UHTPGD) with a temperature of 0.8–1.0 keV and an emission measure of (8–11) × 10 −4 cm −6 pc in addition to the soft X-ray diffuse background components mainly studied at higher Galactic latitudes (solar wind charge exchange emission, Local Hot Bubble, Milky Way halo emission, and the cosmic X-ray background). This suggests that the UHTPGD is present across the whole Galactic disk. We also observed UHTPGD emission in a region with no bright sources in an XMM-Newton field contained within one of the HaloSat fields. The temperature and emission measure are consistent with those measured with HaloSat. Moreover, the stacked spectra of the X-ray pointlike sources and near-infrared-identified point sources such as stars in the XMM-Newton field also show a spectral feature similar to the UHTPGD emission. This suggests that the UHTPGD may partly originate from pointlike sources such as stars.

X-rays: diffuse background↗

Galactic cosmic ray composition and energy spectra

Galactic cosmic ray nuclei represent a significant risk to long-duration spaceflight outside the magnetosphere. We review briefly existing measurements of the composition and energy spectra of heavy cosmic ray nuclei, pointing out which species and energy ranges are most critical to assessing cosmic ray risks for spaceflight. Key data sets are identified and a table of cosmic ray abundances is presented for elements from H to Ni (Z = 1 to 28). Because of the 22-year nature of the solar modulation cycle, data from the approaching 1998 solar minimum is especially important to reducing uncertainties in the cosmic ray radiation hazard. It is recommended that efforts to model this hazard take advantage of approaches that have been developed to model the astrophysical aspects of cosmic rays.

Mewaldt, R. A.↗

A versatile detector system to measure the change states, mass compositions and energy spectra of interplanetary and magnetosphere ions

An instrument is described for measuring the mass and charge state composition as well as the energy spectra and angular distributions of 0.5 to 350 kev/charge ions in interplanetary space and in magnetospheres of planets such as Jupiter and earth. Electrostatic deflection combined with a time-of-flight and energy measurement allows three-parameter analysis of output signals from which the mass, charge states, and energy are determined. Post-acceleration by 30 kV extends the energy range of the detector system into the solar wind and magnetosphere plasma regime. Isotopes of H and He are easily resolved as are individual elements up to Ne and the dominant elements up to and including Fe. This instrument has an extremely large dynamic range in intensity and is sensitive to rare elements even in the presence of high intensity radiation, and is adapted for interplanetary, deep-space, and out-of-the-ecliptic missions, as well as for flights on spacecraft orbiting Jupiter and earth.

Gloeckler, G.↗

Charge composition and energy spectra of ancient solar flare heavy nuclei

Nuclear tracks in olivine grains from three carbonaceous chondrites are analyzed to determine the energy spectra and charge compositions of solar flare heavy nuclei during the early history of the solar system. Track length measurements of grains irradiated before compaction into meteorites over 4 billion years ago were performed accompanied by calibration experiments using heavy ion beams from an accelerator to identify tracks formed by very heavy (Z between 20 and 28) and very very heavy (Z greater than or equal to 30) groups of nuclei in the Murchison, Murray and Cold Bokkeveld meteorite grains. The time-averaged spectral shape of the solar flare very heavy nuclei is found to be similar to that obtained in lunar sample studies and direct observations. The meteorite grains also reproduce the currently observed enrichment of low-energy heavy ions in solar cosmic rays with respect to photospheric levels, with enhancement factors from 2 to 12 in the energy interval 6-10 MeV/n. Variations of very very heavy/very heavy nuclei abundance ratios within individual kinetic energy intervals are interpreted as representing possible changes of solar flare activity on time scales of 10,000 years.

Goswami, J. N.↗

Composition and energy spectra of heavy nuclei of unknown origin detected on Skylab

Lexan track detectors with large collecting power were exposed inside and outside Skylab during late 1973 and early 1974. Steeply falling energy spectra of nuclei with Z greater than or equal to 8 and energies between 10 and 40 MeV were observed at intensities much higher than those observed outside the magnetosphere. Four possible sources (solar flare particles; low-energy cosmic rays; the anomalous component of low-energy cosmic rays; particles trapped in the inner Van Allen belt) are examined using Skylab particle flux data outside the magnetosphere and other measurements. The composition is found to be most consistent with that of the solar corona. It is suggested that heavy solar wind ions enter the magnetosphere, are accelerated, and populate the inner radiation belt.

Chan, J. H.↗

An Instrument to Measure Elemental Energy Spectra of Cosmic Ray Nuclei Up to 10(exp 16) eV

A longstanding goal of cosmic ray research is to measure the elemental energy spectra of cosmic rays up to and through the "knee" (approx. equal to 3 x 10 (exp 15) eV. It is not currently feasible to achieve this goal with an ionization calorimeter because the mass required to be deployed in Earth orbit is very large (at least 50 tonnes). An alternative method will be presented. This is based on measuring the primary particle energy by determining the angular distribution of secondaries produced in a target layer using silicon microstrip detector technology. The proposed technique can be used over a wide range of energies (10 (exp 11)- 10 (exp 16) eV) and gives an energy resolution of 60% or better. Based on this technique, a design for a new lightweight instrument with a large aperture (KLEM) will be described.

Adams, J.↗

Nuclear composition and energy spectra in the 1969 April 12 solar-particle event.

Measurement of the charge composition for several of the multicharged nuclei and the energy spectra for hydrogen, helium, and medium (6 less than or equal to Z less than or equal to 9) nuclei in the Apr. 12, 1969, solar-particle event. The energy/nucleon spectral shape of the medium nuclei was again the same as that of the helium nuclei, and the ratio of these two species was consistent with the present best average of 58 plus or minus 5. By combining the results obtained here with previous work, improved estimates of the Ne/O and Mg/O values of 0.16 plus or minus 0.03 and 0.056 plus or minus 0.014, respectively, were obtained. Silicon and sulfur abundances relative to O were determined to be 0.208 plus or minus 0.008 plus or minus 0.006, respectively, and 85% confidence upper limits for Ar and Ca relative to O of 0.017 and 0.010 were obtained. Previously, these last four nuclei had only been listed as a group.

Bertsch, D. L.↗

Energy spectra and charge states of H, He, and heavy ions observed in the earth's magnetosheath and magnetotail

Observations of pulses of H, He, and heavy ions of energies greater than 0.12 MeV per charge in the magnetotail and in the magnetosheath are reported. It was found that the relative ion abundances were about 9:1:0.04, their differential energy spectra were about 1 divided by the fourth power of E, and their atomic electrons were almost completely stripped. These results suggest that they were low-energy 'quiet-time' cosmic rays accelerated within the magnetotail and the magnetosheath to the observed energies.

Fan, C. Y.↗

Composition and energy spectra of heavy nuclei with 0.5 less than E less than 40 MeV per nucleon in the 1971 January 24 and September 1 solar flares.

Measurement of energy spectra of O, Si, and Fe between 0.5 and 40 MeV per nucleon with stacks of plastic detectors exposed in a rocket during the Jan. 24, 1971 flare. The Fe/Si ratio decreases from 1.8 plus or minus 0.3 to 0.42 plus or minus 0.14 with energy. In both the January 24 flare and the September 1 flare, the abundances of elements 10 less than or equal to Z less than or equal to 28 at approximately 15 MeV per nucleon are similar to high-energy cosmic-ray source abundances; S, Ne, and Ar are significantly lower than current solar values.

Crawford, H. J.↗