Search

We study in detail the sensitivity of the Antarctic Impulsive Transient Antenna (ANITA) to possible $\nu_\tau$ point source fluxes detected via $\tau$-lepton-induced air showers. This investigation is framed around the observation of four upward-going extensive air shower events very close to the horizon seen in ANITA-IV. We find that these four upgoing events are not observationally inconsistent with $\tau$-induced EASs from Earth-skimming $\nu_\tau$, both in their spectral properties as well as in their observed locations on the sky. These four events, as well as the overall diffuse and point source exposure to Earth-skimming $\nu_\tau$, are also compared against published ultrahigh-energy neutrino limits from the Pierre Auger Observatory. While none of these four events occurred at sky locations simultaneously visible by Auger, the implied fluence necessary for ANITA to observe these events is in strong tension with limits set by Auger across a wide range of energies and is additionally in tension with ANITA's Askaryan in-ice neutrino channel above $10^{19}$ eV. We conclude by discussing some of the technical challenges with simulating and analyzing these near horizon events and the potential for future observatories to observe similar events., Comment: 19 pages, 22 figures, will be published in Physical Review D (PRD)

The relative abundance of cosmic ray nickel nuclei with respect to iron is by far larger than for all other trans-iron elements, therefore it provides a favorable opportunity for a low background measurement of its spectrum. Since nickel, as well as iron, is one of the most stable nuclei, the nickel energy spectrum and its relative abundance with respect to iron provide important information to estimate the abundances at the cosmic ray source and to model the Galactic propagation of heavy nuclei. However, only a few direct measurements of cosmic-ray nickel at energy larger than $ \sim$ 3 GeV/n are available at present in the literature and they are affected by strong limitations in both energy reach and statistics. In this paper we present a measurement of the differential energy spectrum of nickel in the energy range from 8.8 to 240 GeV/n, carried out with unprecedented precision by the Calorimetric Electron Telescope (CALET) in operation on the International Space Station since 2015. The CALET instrument can identify individual nuclear species via a measurement of their electric charge with a dynamic range extending far beyond iron (up to atomic number $ Z $ = 40). The particle's energy is measured by a homogeneous calorimeter (1.2 proton interaction lengths, 27 radiation lengths) preceded by a thin imaging section (3 radiation lengths) providing tracking and energy sampling. This paper follows our previous measurement of the iron spectrum [O. Adriani et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 126, 241101 (2021).], and it extends our investigation on the energy dependence of the spectral index of heavy elements. It reports the analysis of nickel data collected from November 2015 to May 2021 and a detailed assessment of the systematic uncertainties. In the region from 20 to 240 GeV$ /n $ our present data are compatible within the errors with a single power law with spectral index $ -2.51 \pm 0.07 $., Comment: main text: 8 pages, 4 figures; supplemental material: 8 pages, 9 figures, 1 table. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:2106.08036

SuperTIGER (Trans-Iron Galactic Element Recorder) is a large-area balloon-borne instrument built to measure the galactic cosmic-ray (GCR) abundances of elements from Z=10 (Ne) through Z=56 (Ba) at energies from ~0.8 to ~10 GeV/nuc. SuperTIGER flew over Antarctica for a record-breaking 55 days, from December 8, 2012 to February 1, 2013. We will report progress on calculations of galactic cosmic ray spectra corrected to the top of the atmosphere for abundant elements between Ne and Zn from the SuperTIGER flight data. The energy spectra calculations will include up to date refinements to the energy calibrations for the acrylic and aerogel Cherenkov detectors in the instrument, and we will report on new instrument and atmospheric corrections to the top of the atmosphere for energies and abundances. Heinz and Sunyaev (2002) suggested that microquasar jets like those observed in GRS 1915+105 and GRO J1655-40 may be observable as near monoenergetic peaks in heavy ion spectra in the 3-10 GeV/nuc energy range. The large area and long flight duration of SuperTIGER is particularly suited to looking for these microquasar signatures with good statistics. We will compare our SuperTIGER spectra with ACE/CRIS and HEAO-3 spectra and with model GCR spectra solar modulated for the time period of the flight, and we will search for features that may be produced by microquasar jets.

著者人数: 91名(所属. 宇宙航空研究開発機構宇宙科学研究所(JAXA)(ISAS): 海老沢, 研; 福家, 英之; 森, 国城; 西村, 純; 高柳, 昌弘; 冨田, 洋; 上野, 史郎), Number of authors: 91(Affilication. Institute of Space and Astronautical Science, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)(ISAS): Ebisawa, Ken; Fuke, Hideyuki; Mori, Kunishiro; Nishimura, Jun; Takayanagi, Masahiro; Tomida, Hiroshi; Ueno, Shiro), 資料番号: SA1180105000

First results of a cosmic-ray electron + positron spectrum, from 10 GeV to 3 TeV, is presented based upon observations with the CALET instrument on the ISS starting in October, 2015. Nearly a half million electron + positron events are included in the analysis. CALET is an all-calorimetric instrument with total vertical thickness of 30 $X_0$ and a fine imaging capability designed to achieve a large proton rejection and excellent energy resolution well into the TeV energy region. The observed energy spectrum over 30 GeV can be fit with a single power law with a spectral index of -3.152 $\pm$ 0.016 (stat.+ syst.). Possible structure observed above 100 GeV requires further investigation with increased statistics and refined data analysis., 7 pages, 6 figures, published 1 November 2017 in Physical Review Letters

著者人数: 92名, Accepted: 2016-09-02, 資料番号: SA1160178000

The ARIANNA collaboration completed the installation of the hexagonal radio array (HRA) in December 2014, serving as a pilot program for a planned high energy neutrino telescope located about 110 km south of McMurdo Station on the Ross Ice Shelf near the coast of Antarctica. The goal of ARIANNA is to measure both diffuse and point fluxes of astrophysical neutrinos at energies in excess of 1016 eV. Upgraded hardware has been installed during the 2014 deployment season and stations show a livetime of better than 90% between commissioning and austral sunset. Though designed to observe radio pulses from neutrino interactions originating within the ice below each detector, one station was modified to study the low-frequency environment and signals from above. We provide evidence that the HRA observed both continuous emission from the Galaxy and a transient solar burst. Preliminary work on modeling the (weak) Galactic signal confirm the absolute sensitivity of the HRA detector system., Proceedings from the 34th ICRC2015, http://icrc2015.nl/, 8 pages, 6 figures

Installation of the ARIANNA Hexagonal Radio Array (HRA) on the Ross Ice Shelf of Antarctica has been completed. This detector serves as a pilot program to the ARIANNA neutrino telescope, which aims to measure the diffuse flux of very high energy neutrinos by observing the radio pulse generated by neutrino-induced charged particle showers in the ice. All HRA stations ran reliably and took data during the entire 2014-2015 austral summer season. A new radio signal direction reconstruction procedure is described, and is observed to have a resolution better than a degree. The reconstruction is used in a preliminary search for potential neutrino candidate events in the data from one of the newly installed detector stations. Three cuts are used to separate radio backgrounds from neutrino signals. The cuts are found to filter out all data recorded by the station during the season while preserving 85.4% of simulated neutrino events that trigger the station. This efficiency is similar to that found in analyses of previous HRA data taking seasons., Comment: Proceedings from the 34th ICRC2015, http://icrc2015.nl/ . 8 pages, 6 figures

From an elevation of ~38 km, the balloon-borne ANtarctic Impulsive Transient Antenna (ANITA) is designed to detect the up-coming radio frequency (RF) signal resulting from a sub-surface neutrino-nucleon collision. Although no neutrinos have been discovered thus far, ANITA is nevertheless the only experiment to self-trigger on radio frequency emissions from cosmic-ray induced atmospheric air showers. In the majority of those cases, down-coming RF signals are observed via their reflection from the Antarctic ice sheet and back up to the ANITA interferometer. Estimating the energy scale of the incident cosmic rays therefore requires an estimate of the fractional power reflected at the air-ice interface. Similarly, inferring the energy of neutrinos interacting in-ice from observations of the upwards-directed signal refracting out to ANITA also requires consideration of signal coherence across the interface. By comparing the direct Solar RF signal intensity measured with ANITA to the surface-reflected Solar signal intensity, as a function of incident elevation angle relative to the surface {\Theta}, we estimate the power reflection coefficients R({\Theta}). We find general consistency between our average measurements and the values of R({\Theta}) expected from the Fresnel equations, separately for horizontal- vs. vertical-polarizations., Comment: final version as accepted for publication by Radio Science

X-ray polarimetry promises to give new information about high-energy astrophysical sources, such as binary black hole systems, micro-quasars, active galactic nuclei, and gamma-ray bursts. We designed, built and tested a hard X-ray polarimeter X-Calibur to be used in the focal plane of the InFOCuS grazing incidence hard X-ray telescope. X-Calibur combines a low-Z Compton scatterer with a CZT detector assembly to measure the polarization of 10-80 keV X-rays making use of the fact that polarized photons Compton scatter preferentially perpendicular to the electric field orientation. X-Calibur achieves a high detection efficiency of order unity., 2011 Fermi Symposium proceedings - eConf C110509

Using current solar minimum measurements from the Cosmic Ray Isotope Spectrometer (CRIS) onboard the Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE), we report the observed elemental abundances and energy spectra for C, O, Si, and Fe in the energy range of ~50-500MeV/nucleon. These measurements are compared to prior CRIS observations for the 1997-98 solar minimum period, when the solar magnetic field was of the opposite polarity. By April 2009, the current solar minimum intensities for each of the four elements has surpassed the peak intensities observed during the previous solar minimum. We also examine the correlation of the galactic cosmic ray intensities with the tilt angle of the heliospheric current sheet. These studies will be important for understanding solar modulation processes, such as changes in drift effects during a solar cycle.

Super-TIGER (Super Trans-Iron Galactic Element Recorder) is a new long-duration balloon-borne instrument designed to test and clarify an emerging model of cosmic-ray origins and models for atomic processes by which nuclei are selected for acceleration. A sensitive test of the origin of cosmic rays is the measurement of ultra heavy elemental abundances (Z 2". 30). Super-TIGER is a large-area (5 m2) instrument designed to measure the abundances of elements in the interval 30

The ENTICE experiment is one of two instruments that comprise the "Orbiting Astrophysical Spectrometer in Space (OASIS)", which is presently undergoing a NASA "Astrophysics Strategic Mission Concept Study". ENTICE is designed to make high precision measurements of the abundances of individual elements from neon through the actinides and, in addition, will search for possible superheavy nuclei in the galactic cosmic rays. The ENTICE instrument utilizes silicon detectors, aerogel and acrylic Chercnkov counters, and a scintillating optical fiber hodoscope to measure the charge and energy of these ultra-heavy nuclei for energies greater than 0.5 GeV/nucleon. It is a large instrnment consisting of four modules with a total effective geometrical factor of ~20 m^2sr. Measurements made in space for a period of three years with ENTICE will enable us to determine if cosmic rays include a component of recently synthesized transuranic elements _(94)Pu and _(96)Cm, to measure the age of that component, and to test the model of the OB association origin of galactic cosmic rays. Additionally, these observations will enable us to study how diffusive shock acceleration of cosmic rays operates differently on interstellar grains and gas.

The Orbiting Astrophysical Observatory In Space (OASIS) is an Advanced Concept currently under study at NASA as a mission for the next decade. The goal of the OASIS mission is to identify a local site or sites where galactic cosmic rays (GCR) originate and are accelerated. The mission will also allow GCR data to be used to investigate how elements are made and distributed in the galaxy and to improve our understanding of supernovae and the nucleosynthesis of the heavy elements. OASIS consists of two instruments that provide complementary data on the location and nature of the source(s) through investigating the composition of ultra-heavy nuclei ( ) and the energy spectrum of electrons. In particular OASIS will measure the relative abundances in the actinide group ( ) to determine the age of the -process material in GCRs. The presence of young r-process material would indicate that GCRs are a sample of the interstellar medium in OB associations. OASIS will measure the electron spectrum to 10 TeV. The energy where this spectrum ends will tell us the distance to the nearest GCR source(s). OASIS will look for spectral features and anisotropy in the high energy electron spectrum that are expected to appear when only a few of the nearest astrophysical sources can contribute to the electron flux. Spectral features may also suggest dark matter decay products. We anticipate that these measurements will lead to the identification of the nearest cosmic ray electron source and provide a crucial test of the OB association model for the origin of GCR nuclei.

Observations of ultra-heavy (Z≥30) galactic cosmic rays (GCR) help to distinguish possible origins of GCR. The Trans-Iron Galactic Element Recorder (TIGER) measures the charge (Z) and energy of GCR using a combination of scintillators, Cherenkov detectors, and a scintillating fiber hodoscope. The two Cherenkov radiators, one acrylic and one aerogel, provide TIGER with an energy sensitivity between 0.3 and 10 GeV/nucleon in the instrument. The threshold at the top of the atmosphere is close to 0.8 GeV/nucleon for Fe. TIGER has accumulated data on two successful flights from McMurdo, Antarctica launched in D ecember 2001 and December 2003 with a total flight duration of 50 days. The combined dataset resolves ~140 nuclei with Z > 30, and provides the best measurements to date for 30Zn, 31Ga, 32Ge, and 34Se. The results for Ga and Ge taken together are inconsistent with a GCR source with Solar-System abundances modified either by preferential acceleration of elements of low first ionization potential or by preferential acceleration of refractory elements, suggesting that elemental composition of the GCR source is different from that of the Solar System

The arriving abundances of a variety of cosmic-ray nuclides consist of comparable amounts of primary material produced by stellar nucleosynthesis and secondary matter resulting from fragmentation of heavier nuclei by collisions during interstellar propagation. We discuss a technique for extracting the primary and secondary contributions that takes advantage of energy spectra of individual nuclides available from the Advanced Composition Explorer mission, a data base of measured and calculated fragmentation cross sections, and the leaky box model of interstellar propagation.

The Trans-Iron Galactic Element Recorder (TIGER) was launched in December 2001 and 2003 from McMurdo, Antarctica and was designed to observe elements ranging from over an extended energy range. Observations of radioactive isotopes produced during explosive nucleosynthesis such as Ni that decay only through electron capture provide important constraints on the delay between nucleosynthesis and the acceleration of galactic cosmic rays (GCRs). The isotopes of Co and Ni at low energies, in particular, the observations of the Ni and Co from the Cosmic Ray Isotope Spectrometer (CRIS) on the Advanced Composition Explorer, indicate a significant time delay (7.6 10 yr) between GCR nucleosynthesis and acceleration. While TIGER is not able to resolve isotopes, observations of the elemental abundances of Co and Ni at high energies further constrain models for the acceleration and propagation of GCRs. The 2001 2003 flights of TIGER lasted a total of 50 days and collected sufficient statistics to study the Co/Ni elemental ratio over a wide range in energies. We present the elemental ratio of Co/Ni in galactic cosmic rays between 0.8-5.0 GeV/nucleon and compare these results with previous measurements and models for cosmic-ray propagation.

Observations of cosmic-ray helium energy spectra provide important constraints on cosmic ray origin and propagation. However, helium intensities measured at Earth are affected by solar modulation, especially below several GeV/nucleon. Observations of helium intensities over a solar cycle are important for understanding how solar modulation affects galactic cosmic ray intensities and for separating the contributions of anomalous and galactic cosmic rays. The Cosmic Ray Isotope Spectrometer (CRIS) on ACE has been measuring cosmic ray isotopes, including helium, since 1997 with high statistical precision. We present helium elemental intensities between ∼10 to ∼100 MeV/nucleon from the Solar Isotope Spectrometer (SIS) and CRIS observations over a solar cycle and compare these results with the observations from other satellite and balloon-borne instruments, and with GCR transport and solar modulation models.

Galactic cosmic ray (OCR) measurements of the phosphorus, sulfur, argon, and calcium isotopes made by the Cosmic Ray Isotope Spectrometer (CRIS) aboard NASA's Advanced Composition Explorer are reported aver 1he energy range from ~100 to ~400 MeV/nucleon. The propagation of cosmic rays through the Galaxy and heliosphere is modeled to determine isotopic source abundance ratios ^(31)P/^(32)S, ^(34)S/^(32)S, ^(38)Ar/^(36)Ar, and ^(36)Ar/^(40)Ca. By deriving the OCR source abundance of argon (a noble gas) and calcium (a refractory), it is determined that material in grains is accelerated to OCR energies a factor of ~6.4 more efficiently than gas-phase material in this charge range. With this information the interstellar dust function of phosphorus and sulfur at the cosmic ray source is shown to be consistent with astronomical measurements of hot galactic environments.

We report new limits on cosmic neutrino fluxes from the test flight of the Antarctic Impulsive Transient Antenna (ANITA) experiment, which completed an 18.4 day flight of a prototype long-duration balloon payload, called ANITA-lite, in early 2004. We search for impulsive events that could be associated with ultra-high energy neutrino interactions in the ice, and derive limits that constrain several models for ultra-high energy neutrino fluxes. We rule out the long-standing Z-burst model as the source for the ultra-high energy cosmic rays., 4 pages, 3 figures, accepted to PRL

A physics-based cosmic-ray transport model has been fit to solar-minimum and solar-maximum cosmic ray spectra and used for preliminary evaluations of the radiation dose and dose-equivalent of galactic cosmic rays (GCRs). We find a solar-minimum radiation dose-equivalent somewhat lower than previous estimates, with a smaller difference between solar minimum and solar maximum. Measurements of Be-10 in polar ice cores and other data show that the cosmic-ray intensity was significantly higher 50 to 100 years ago. The estimated radiation levels during these earlier periods were up to ~ 1.7 times greater than during recent solar minima.

The Antarctic Impulsive Transient Antenna (ANITA) experiment is being developed to search for ultra-high-energy (UHE) neutrino interactions ($>3\times10^{18}$ eV) in the Antarctic ice cap. A neutrino interaction in the ice will produce a radio pulse by the means of the Askaryan effect. The large radio transparency of ice allows for such a pulse to be recorded by a cluster of balloon-borne antennas. The details of the ANITA instrument, now in a construction phase, and the science we hope to achieve is discussed. In order to prepare for the main mission, we have flown ANITA-lite during the 2003/04 austral season. ANITA-lite consisted of two quad-ridge horn antennas and a prototype RF (radio frequency) triggering and recording system. Here we present the results of an impulsive RF background survey of Antarctica, as well as proof-of-principle gain, tracking, and timing calibrations conducted by observing solar radio emissions and calibration radio-pulses. A preliminary UHE neutrino flux limit based on ANITA-lite data is also presented., Presented at 22nd Texas Symposium on Relativistic Astrophysics at Stanford, Palo Alto, 13-17 December 2004, (TSRA04-2516) 6 pages, LaTeX, 10 eps figures

We describe a new experiment to search for neutrinos with energies above 3 x 10^18 eV based on the observation of short duration radio pulses that are emitted from neutrino-initiated cascades. The primary objective of the ANtarctic Impulse Transient Antenna (ANITA) mission is to measure the flux of Greisen-Zatsepin-Kuzmin (GZK) neutrinos and search for neutrinos from Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN). We present first results obtained from the successful launch of a 2-antenna prototype instrument (called ANITA-lite) that circled Antarctica for 18 days during the 03/04 Antarctic campaign and show preliminary results from attenuation length studies of electromagnetic waves at radio frequencies in Antarctic ice. The ANITA detector is funded by NASA, and the first flight is scheduled for December 2006., Comment: 9 pages, 8 figures, to be published in Proceedings of International School of Cosmic Ray Astrophysics, 14th Course: "Neutrinos and Explosive Events in the Universe", Erice, Italy, 2-13 July 2004

The Trans-Iron Galactic Element.Recorder (TIGER) instrument was launched in December 2001 from McMurdo, Antarctica. TIGER is a cosmic-ray telescope that uses four scintillation counters, two Cherenkov detectors and a scintillating fiber hodoscope to determine the charge (Z) and energy of a particle. During the 31.8 day flight it measured ~100 ultra-heavy galactic cosmic-ray (GCR) events with Z > 30 and demonstrated charge resolution sufficient to resolve the individual elemental abundances in this region. The abundances of the Ultra-Heavy GCRs in this range can be used to distinguish between GCR source models. We present our measurements and discuss the implications for the GCR source.

Precise measurements of predominantly secondary cosmic-ray Li, Be, and B together with current well-measured production cross-sections for these isotopes help to improve our understanding of galactic cosmic ray propagation models. The Cosmic Ray Isotope Spectrometer (CRIS) on ACE has been measuring isotopic composition of cosmic rays since 1997 with high statistical precision. We present the isotopic abundances from CRIS and discuss these observations in the context of cosmic-ray transport models and previous cosmic-ray measurements.

We report on abundance measurements of ^(10)Be, ^(26)Al, ^(36)Cl, and ^(54)Mn in the Galactic cosmic rays (GCRs) using the Cosmic-Ray Isotope Spectrometer (CRIS) instrument aboard the Advanced Composition Explorer spacecraft at energies from ~70 to ~400 MeV nucleon^(-1). We also report an upper limit on the abundance of GCR ^(14)C. The high statistical significance of these measurements allows the energy dependence of their relative abundances to be studied. A steady-state, leaky-box propagation model, incorporating observations of the local interstellar medium (ISM) composition and density and recent partial fragmentation cross section measurements, is used to interpret these abundances. Using this model, the individual galactic confinement times derived using data for each species are consistent with a unique confinement time value of τ_(esc) = 15.0 ± 1.6 Myr. The CRIS abundance measurements are consistent with propagation through an average ISM hydrogen number density n_H = 0.34 ± 0.04 H atoms cm^(-3). The surviving fractions, f, for each radioactive species have been calculated. From predictions of the diffusion models of Ptuskin & Soutoul, the values of f indicate an interstellar cosmic-ray diffusion coefficient of D = (3.5 ± 2.0) × 10^(28) cm^2 s^(-1).

The secondary isotopes ^(37)Ar, ^(44)Ti, ^(49)V, ^(51)Cr, ^(55)Fe, and ^(57)Co decay only by electron capture, which occurs preferentially at the lower cosmic-ray energies, where electron attachment is more likely. Measurements of the abundances of these isotopes may reveal the interstellar energies of cosmic rays during propagation and whether reacceleration occurred. Stable secondary isotopes may also be used to examine energy dependence and reacceleration. The Cosmic Ray Isotope Spectrometer has detected large numbers of these nuclei at 100 - 500 MeV/nucleon during a time spanning solar minimum and solar maximum, allowing an additional study of solar modulation. This paper will discuss several subiron abundance ratios and the implications for reacceleration and solar modulation.

The isotopic composition of galactic cosmic-ray Ca has been measured over the energy range ˜ 150 to 400 MeV/nuc on the Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE) mission. Using the measured abundances of the dominantly-secondary Ca isotopes with A = 41-46 as constraints, in combination with measured cross sections for the production of Ca isotopes by fragmentation of ^(56)Fe on hydrogen, we show that the two doubly-magic isotopes ^(40)Ca and ^(48)Ca consist mainly of primary material. We find that their relative abundances in the cosmic-ray source are very similar to those found in solar-system material, in spite of the fact that different types of stars are thought to be responsible for producing these two isotopes. This observation is consistent with the view that cosmic rays are derived from a mixed sample of interstellar matter.

The HNX mission is composed of the ENTICE and ECCO experiments. The experimental goal of ENTICE is to measure with high precision the elemental abundances of all nuclei with 10≤Z≤82. This will enable us to determine if the injection mechanism for the cosmic ray accelerator is controlled by FIP or Volatility and to study the mix of nucleosynthetic processes that contribute to the galactic cosmic ray source. The ENTICE experiment utilizes the dE/dx-C method of charge determination and consists of silicon dE/dx detectors, Cherenkov detectors with two different refractive indices, and a fiber hodoscope. We will describe the instrument and its performance based on beam tests of a prototype instrument.

The Trans-Iron Galactic Element Recorder (TIGER) for the Ultra-Long Duration Balloon project Demo2000 (TD2K) is designed to measure the abundances of all elements in the Galactic Cosmic Rays (GCRs) with 26 ≤ Z ≤ 40 and energies above 300 MeV/nucleon. TD2K's flight is expected to approach 100 days in length. Launch will be from New Zealand in 2001. TD2K will have sufficiently good resolution to measure the individual abundances of the odd-Z elements between Z=26 and Z=40 for the first time. Measurements of odd-Z nuclei are important for distinguishing between the effects of first ionization potential and volatility in the injection process for ultraheavy GCRs, for models of nucleosynthesis, and constraining models of cosmic-ray propagation at short pathlengths. TD2K uses a combination of Cherenkov and scintillation counters to determine the atomic number and energy of incident cosmic rays, and a coded cintillating-fiber hodoscope for trajectory corrections. TD2K is an improved version of the TIGER instrument flown in 1997, results from which are reported at this conference (Sposato et al., 1999). We will present the status of the TD2K instrument and of the ULDB program as it affects the Demo 2000 flight.

TIGER is a balloon-borne cosmic-ray experiment designed to measure the elemental abundances of Galactic Cosmic Rays (GCRs) in the charge range 26

We report the results of an accelerator calibration of detectors planned for use in the ZIM experiment for ACCESS. The experiment utilizes silicon detectors to measure dE/dx, and aerogel and acrylic Cherenkov counters for velocity measurements. For a 79Au beam with energy 10.6 GeV/nucleon, we obtain resolution in charge for the silicon, acrylic Cherenkov, and aerogel Cherenkov of 0.20, 0.22, and 0.45 cu respectively.

Measurements of the elemental abundances of galactic cosmic ray nuclei with charge 26≤z≤92 can provide important information that should help to resolve the question of cosmic-ray origin; i.e. whether cosmic rays originate from the acceleration of interstellar grain material or from preferential selection and acceleration of nuclei from stellar photosphere-chromosphere regions with T-10^4 based on first ionization potential. They will also refine tests of whether freshly synthesized rprocess material is a significant component in cosmic rays. The detector concept described utilizes an array of silicon detectors for dF/dx measurements, two Cherenkov counters with radiators of different refractive index for velocity determination (one using aerogel and one using a novel waveshifter readout approach), and scintillating fibers for a hodoscope/time-of-flight detector. The numbers of particles which can be collected with this approach and the expected charge resolution are discussed.

Individual elements in the cosmic radiation of even atomic number (Z) in the interval 26 ≤ Z ≤ 40 have been resolved and their relative abundances measured. The results are inconsistent with a cosmic-ray source whose composition in this charge interval is dominated by r-process nucleosynthests. The ratios of cosmic-ray source abundances to solar system abundances in this interval follow the same general correlation with first ionization potential as for the lighter elements although there are deviations in detail.

The anisotropy of cosmic ray iron observed by the Heavy Nuclei Experiment [1] on the HEA0-3 spacecraft has been studied. A high rigidity data set was chosen by requiring the Stoermer cutoff be greater than 7 GV, and the energy of individual events was determined by relativistic rise in the ion chamber signal [2]. Events which have estimated rigidity well above their Stoermer cutoff rigidity were chosen in order to reduce the effect of the geomagnetic field on the cosmic ray trajectories. Selecting events with estimated rigidity greater than ~58 GV from eight months of data yields 2459 events. This data set allows an anisotropy measurement with a statistical uncertainty of 3%. We will continue to try increasing the size. of the selected data set while limiting systematic errors due to the geomagnetic and interplanetary fields.

Individual elements in the cosmic radiation of even atomic number (Z) in the interval 26 ≤ Z ≤ 40 have been resolved and their relative abundances measured. The results are inconsistent with a cosmic-ray source whose composition in this charge interval is dominated by r-process nucleosynthes1s. The ratios of cosmic-ray source abundances to solar system abundances in this interval follow the same general correlation with first ionization potential as for the lighter elements although there are deviations in detail.

Over the past few years, we have been analyzing the HEAO-3 measurements of the abundances of ultra-heavy cosmic ray nuclei (Z>26) at earth. In order to interpret these abundances in terms of a source composition, allowance must be made for the propagation of the nuclei in the interstellar medium. Vital to any calculation of the propagation is a knowledge of the total and partial interaction cross sections for these heavy nuclei on hydrogen. Until recently, data on such reactions have been scarce, and we have relied on the semiempirical formalism of Silberberg and Tsao to predict the partial cross sections. However, now that relativistic heavy ion beams are available at the LBL Bevalac, some of the cross sections of interest can be measured at energies close to those of the cosmic ray nuclei being observed.

The HEAO-3 Heavy Nuclei Experiment measures cosmic-ray energy directly in the interval 400 to ~1200 MeV/amu. Geomagnetic cutoffs can also be derived up to ~15 GV. We present preliminary rigidity spectra of various ultraheavy cosmic-ray elements relative to iron.

Individual elements in the cosmic radiation of even atomic number (Z)in the interval 26≤ Z ≤ 40 have been resolved and their relative abundances measured. The results are inconsistent with a cosmic-ray source whose composition in this charge interval is dominated by r-process nucleosynthesis.