H. Matsutani

Cosmic-Ray Spectra and Composition in the Energy Range of 10-1000 TeV per Particle Obtained by the RUNJOB Experiment

This is a full report on the cosmic-ray spectra and composition obtained by the emulsion chambers on board 10 long-duration balloons, launched from Kamchatka between 1995 and 1999. The total exposure of these campaigns amounts to 575 m2 hr, with an average flight altitude of ~32 km. We present final results on the energy spectra of two light elements, protons and helium nuclei, and on those of three heavy-element groups, CNO, NeMgSi, and Fe, covering the very high energy region of 10-1000 TeV particle-1. We additionally present the secondary/primary ratio, the all-particle spectrum, and the average mass of the primary cosmic rays. We find that our proton spectrum is in good agreement with other results, but the intensity of the helium component is nearly half that obtained by JACEE and SOKOL. The slopes of the spectra of these two elements obtained from RUNJOB data are almost parallel, with values of 2.7-2.8 in the energy range of 10-500 TeV nucleon-1. RUNJOB heavy-component spectra are in agreement with the extrapolation from those at lower energies obtained by CRN (Chicago group), monotonically decreasing with energy. We have also observed secondary components, such as the LiBeB group and the sub-Fe group, and present the secondary/primary ratio in the TeV nucleon-1 region. We determine the all-particle spectrum and the average mass of the primary cosmic rays in the energy region of 20-1000 TeV particle-1. The intensity of the RUNJOB all-particle spectrum is 40%-50% less than those obtained by JACEE and SOKOL, and the RUNJOB average mass remains almost constant up to ~1 PeV.

Unusually penetrating particle detected by balloon-borne emulsion chamber

SummaryOne example of an unusual particle track has been recorded in an emulsion chamber exposed to cosmic rays on a ballon at the atmospheric depth 11.7 g/cm2. The particle arrived at the chamber withZ/β=40±2 and β≳0.8. What is extraordinary with this particle is its arrival zenith angle, 87.4°, which amounts to a traversed atmospheric thickness ∼200 g/cm2. The anomalous nature of the present track “ET” (exotic track) is demonstrated through the difficulties in reconciling it with the explanation that it is due to an ordinary ultra-heavy cosmic-ray nucleus.

Azimuthally controlled observation of heavy cosmic-ray primaries by means of the balloon-borne emulsion chamber

Abstract We have exposed an emulsion chamber with an area of 1.22 m 2 on board of the balloon at an atmospheric depth of 8.9 g/cm 2 for 15.8 h, which has been azimuthally controlled within the accuracy of Δφ = 0.5°. With the use of the east-west asymmetry effect of arriving cosmic-ray primaries, we can obtain the energy spectra for individual elements in the kinetic energy range from a few GeV/nucleon up to ∼ 15 GeV/nucleon. We present also the energy spectra obtained by the opening-angle method for the higher energy region, 5–1000 GeV/nucleon, for the elements not lighter than silicon. We find that the energy spectra obtained by the former method continue smoothly to those obtained by the latter, indicating that the energy determination using the opening-angle method is performed correctly. We compare also the present results with those obtained by the previous work. We find that the iron flux is in nice agreement with that obtained by the previous observation, the differential spectral index being constant, ∼ 2.5, up to a few TeV/nucleon, while in the case of the silicon component, it is ∼ 2.7 for 10–1000 GeV/nucleon in this work, significantly harder than the previous one, ∼ 2.9. We also report the flux of the sub-iron component and its abundance ratio to the iron component. We find the abundance ratio of [Z = 21–25]/iron is slightly less than those obtained previously in the higher energy region, ≳ 100 GeV/n.

Energy determination of the cascade shower by means of a new type of emulsion chamber with diffuser module

Abstract An account is given of a new type of emulsion chambers which have been in our use since 1997 in our RUNJOB program (RUssia–Nippon JOint Balloon-program). Each chamber is equipped with an additional “diffuser module” placed under the usual set of modules. We have made the experiments using 4 cm thick diffuser modules composed of several photo-sensitive layers (X-ray films and/or nuclear emulsion plates) sandwiched with spacers. The result is as follows. Even in the case where the path length of only 6 radiation lengths is available within the calorimeter module placed above, the visible energy sum is determined with an accuracy better than σ∼0.2 for a group of electromagnetic cascade showers induced by a proton of energy up to several tens of TeV, or by an iron nucleus of energy up to one hundred TeV. If the available path length in the calorimeter module is 9 radiation lengths, we can estimate the energy sum up to ∼100 TeV within an accuracy of σ∼0.2 for a proton-induced cascade shower group. It means that the use of our new-type emulsion chamber can reduce the detector payload dramatically, which is essentially important for the high-energy cosmic-ray observations made on board the vehicles such as balloons, satellites and so on.

First results obtained by RUNJOB campaign

Abstract We report experimental results obtained by using a wide-gap type emulsion chamber flown in the first Japanese-Russo joint balloon project, called RUNJOB ( RU ssia- N ippon JO int B alloon-program). Two balloons were launched from Kamchatka in July 1995, and both were recovered successfully near the Volga River. The exposure time was 130 hours for the first flight and 168 hours for the second. The mean ceiling altitude, in both flights, was 32 km corresponding to 10 g/cm 2 . Total area of the emulsion chamber was 0.8 m 2 , and the thickness 0.385 and 2.28 collision m.f.p.s for vertically incident proton- and iron-primaries, respectively. We detected 381 showers using Fuji-#200-type X-ray film; of these 174 showers were due to atmospheric secondary γ-rays, and the rest 207 came from nuclear components. The energy range covers 20∼200 TeV for proton-primary, 3∼30 TeV/nucleon for helium-primary, and 0.7∼5 TeV/nucleon for iron-primary. We give the energy spectra for various elements (proton, helium, …, iron) as well as the all-particle spectrum and the average mass of the cosmic-ray primaries.