The Energy Spectra and Relative Abundances of Electrons and Positrons in the Galactic Cosmic Radiation
Year: 1998
Type: article
Abstract: Observations of cosmic-ray electrons and positrons have been made with a new balloon-borne detector, the High-Energy Antimatter Telescope (HEAT), which was first flown in 1994 May from Fort Sumner, New Mexico. We describe the instrumental approach and the data analysis procedures, and we present results from this flight. The measurement has provided a new determination of the individual energy spectra of electrons and positrons from 5 GeV to about 50 GeV and of the combined "all-electron" intensity ( e + + e - ) up to ~100 GeV. The single power-law spectral indices for electrons and positrons are α = 3.09 ± 0.08 and 3.3 ± 0.2, respectively. We find that a contribution from primary sources to the positron intensity in this energy region, if it exists, must be quite small.
Source: The Astrophysical Journal
DOI: 10.1086/305573
Authors: S. W. Barwick, J. J. Beatty, C. R. Bower, C. J. Chaput, S. Coutu, G. A. de Nolfo, M. A. DuVernois, D. Ellithorpe, D. Ficenec, J. Knapp, D. M. Lowder, S. McKee, D. Muller, J. A. Musser, S. L. Nutter, E. Schneider, S. P. Swordy, G. Tarle, A. D. Tomasch, E. Torbet
Institutions: University of California, Irvine, Pennsylvania State University, Indiana University Bloomington, Indiana University, University of Michigan, University of Chicago, Takeda Oncology (United States), Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, University of California, Berkeley, Eastern New Mexico University
Language: English
Subfield: Nuclear and High Energy Physics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W1982151484