Engineering topics

Ormes, J. F.

Publications and source records attributed to Ormes, J. F..

At least 19 records

NASA NTRS2013

Time Variations of Cosmic-Ray Helium Isotopes with BESS-Polar I

The Balloon-borne Experiment with a Superconducting Spectrometer (BESS) is configured with a solenoidal superconducting magnet and a suite of precision particle detectors, including time-of-flight hodoscopes based on plastic scintillators, a silica-aerogel Cherenkov detector, and a high resolution tracking system with a central jet-type drift chamber. The charges of incident particles are determined from energy losses in the scintillators. Their magnetic rigidities (momentum/charge) are measured by reconstructing each particle trajectory in the magnetic field, and their velocities are obtained by using the time-of-flight system. Together, these measurements can accurately identify helium isotopes among the incoming cosmic-ray helium nuclei up to energies in the GeV per nucleon region. The BESS-Polar I instrument flew for 8.5 days over Antarctica from December 13th to December 21st, 2004. Its long-duration flight and large geometric acceptance allow the time variations of isotopic fluxes to be studied for the first time. The time variations of helium isotope fluxes are presented here for rigidities from 1.2 to 2.5 GV and results are compared to previously reported proton data and neutron monitor data.

Cosmic-ray flux time variations↗

NASA NTRS2012

Measurement of the Cosmic-Ray Antiproton Spectrum at Solar Minimum with a Long-Duration Balloon Flight over Antarctica

The energy spectrum of cosmic-ray antiprotons (p-bar's) from 0.17 to 3.5 GeV has been measured using 7886 p-bar's detected by BESS-Polar II during a long-duration flight over Antarctica near solar minimum in December 2007 and January 2008. This shows good consistency with secondary p-bar calculations. Cosmologically primary p-bar's have been investigated by comparing measured and calculated p-bar spectra. BESS-Polar II data.show no evidence of primary p-bar's from the evaporation of primordial black holes.

Abe, K.↗

NASA NTRS2012

Search for Antihelium with the BESS-Polar Spectrometer

In two long-duration balloon flights over Antarctica, the BESS-Polar collaboration has searched for antihelium in the cosmic radiation with higher sensitivity than any reported investigation. BESSPolar I flew in 2004, observing for 8.5 days. BESS-Polar II flew in 2007-2008, observing for 24.5 days. No antihelium candidate was found in BESS-Polar I data among 8.4 x 10(exp 6) [Z] = 2 nuclei from 1.0 to 20 GV or in BESS-Polar II data among 4.0 x 10(exp 7) [Z] = 2 nuclei from 1.0 to 14 GV. Assuming antihelium to have the same spectral shape as helium, a 95% confidence upper limit of 6.9 x 10(exp -8) was determined by combining all the BESS data, including the two BESS-Polar flights. With no assumed antihelium spectrum and a weighted average of the lowest antihelium efficiencies from 1.6 to 14 GV, an upper limit of 1.0 x 10(exp -7) was determined for the combined BESS-Polar data. These are the most stringent limits obtained to date.

Sasaki, M.↗

NASA NTRS2011

Measurement of Cosmic-Ray Antiproton Spectrum at Solar Minimum with a Long-Duration Balloon Flight in Antarctica

The energy spectrum of cosmic-ray antiprotons (p(raised bar)'s) collected by the BESS-Polar II instrument during a long-duration flight over Antarctica in the solar minimum period of December 2007 through January 2008. The p(raised bar) spectrum measured by BESS-Polar II shows good consistency with secondary p(raised bar) calculations. Cosmologically primary p(raised bar)'s have been searched for by comparing the observed and calculated p(raised bar) spectra. The BESSPolar II result shows no evidence of primary p(raised bar)'s originating from the evaporation of PBH.

Abe, K.↗

NASA NTRS2007

High Efficiency Plastic Scintillator Detector with Wave-Length Shifting Fiber Readout for the GLAST Large Area Telescope

This paper describes the design and performance studies of the scintillator tile detectors for the Anti-Coincidence Detector (ACD) of the Large Area Telescope (LAT) on the Gamma ray Large Area Space Telescope (GLAST), scheduled for launch in early 2008. The scintillator tile detectors utilize wavelength shifting fibers and have dual photomultiplier tube (PMT) readout. The design requires highly efficient and uniform detection of singly charged relativistic particles over the tile area and must meet all requirements for a launch, as well as operation in a space environment. We present here the design of three basic types of tiles used in the ACD, ranging in size from approx.450 sq cm to approx.2500 sq cm, all 1 cm thick, with different shapes, and with photoelectron yield of approx. 20 photoelectrons per minimum ionizing particle (mip) at normal tile incidence, uniform over the tile area. Some tiles require flexible clear fiber cables up to 1.5 m long to deliver scintillator light to remotely located PMT.

Moiseev, A. A.↗

NASA NTRS2007

Performance of the Anti-Coincidence Detector on the GLAST Large Area Telescope

The Anti-Coincidence Detector (ACD), the outermost detector layer in the Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope (GLAST) Large Area Telescope (LAT), is designed to detect and veto incident cosmic ray charged particles, which outnumber cosmic gamma rays by 3-4 orders of magnitude. The challenge in ACD design is that it must have high (0.9997) detection efficiency for singly-charged relativistic particles, but must also have a low probability for self-veto of high-energy gammas by backplash radiation from interactions in the LAT calorimeter. Simulations and tests demonstrate that the ACD meete its design requirements. The performance of the ACD has remained stable thrugh stand-alone environmental testing, shipment across the U.S. installation onto the LAT, shipment back across the U.S., LAT environmental testing, and shipment to Arizona. As part of the fully-assembled GLAST observatory, the ACD is being readied for final testing before launch.

Thompson, D. J.↗

NASA NTRS2007

The Anti-Coincidence Detector for the GLAST Large Area Telescope

This paper describes the design, fabrication and testing of the Anti-Coincidence Detector (ACD) for the Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope (GLAST) Large Area Telescope (LAT). The ACD is LAT's first-level defense against the charged cosmic ray background that outnumbers the gamma rays by 3-5 orders of magnitude. The ACD covers the top and 4 sides of the LAT tracking detector, requiring a total active area of -8.3 square meters. The ACD detector utilizes plastic scintillator tiles with wave-length shifting fiber readout. In order to suppress self-veto by shower particles at high gamma-ray energies, the ACD is segmented into 89 tiles of different sizes. The overall ACD efficiency for detection of singly charged relativistic particles entering the tracking detector from the top or sides of the LAT exceeds the required 0.9997.

Moiseev, A. A.↗

NASA NTRS2007

Cosmic Ray Electron Science with GLAST

Cosmic ray electrons at high energy carry information about their sources, their definition in local magnetic fields and their interactions with the photon fields through which they travel. The spectrum of the particles is affected by inverse Compton losses and synchrotron losses, the rates of which are proportional to the square of the particle's energy making the spectra very steep. However, GLAST will be able to make unique and very high statistics measurements of electrons from approx. 20 to approx. 700 GeV that will allow us to search for anisotropies in anival direction and spectral features associated with some dark matter candidates. Complementary information on electrons of still higher energy will be required to see effects of possible individual cosmic ray sources.

Ormes, J. F.↗

NASA NTRS2007

LAT Perspectives in Detection of High Energy Cosmic Ray Electrons

The GLAST Large Area Telescope (LAT) science objectives and capabilities in the detection of high energy electrons in the energy range from 20 GeV to approx. 1 TeV are presented. LAT simulations are used to establish the event selections. It is found that maintaining the efficiency of electron detection at the level of 30% the residual hadron contamination does not exceed 2-3% of the electron flux. LAT should collect approx. ten million of electrons with the energy above 20 GeV for each year of observation. Precise spectral reconstruction with high statistics presents us with a unique opportunity to investigate several important problems such as studying galactic models of IC radiation, revealing the signatures of nearby sources such as high energy cutoff in the electron spectrum, testing the propagation model, and searching for KKDM particles decay through their contribution to the electron spectrum.

Moiseev, Alexander↗

NASA NTRS2005

Design and Characteristics of the Anticoincidence Detector for the GLAST Large Area Telescope

The Anti-Coincidence Detector (ACD) is the outermost detector layer in the GLAST Large Area Telescope (LAT), surrounding the top and sides of the tracker. The purpose of the ACD is to detect and veto incident cosmic ray charged particles, which outnumber cosmic gamma rays by 3-4 orders of magnitude. The challenge in ACD design is that it must have high (0.9997) detection efficiency for singly charged relativistic particles, but must also have low sensitivity to backsplash particles. These are products of high- energy interactions in the LAT calorimeter. They can cause a veto signal in the ACD, resulting in loss of good gamma-ray events.

Moiseev, A. A.↗

NASA NTRS2003

Antiprotons in CR: What Do They Tell Us?

Recent measurements of the CR antiproton flux have been shown to pose a problem for conventional propagation models (Moskalenko et al. 2002). In particular, models consistent with secondary/primary nuclei ratio in CR produce too few antiprotons, while matching the ratio and the antiproton flux requires some artificial assumptions. This may indicate an additional local CR component or new phenomena in particle propagation in the Galaxy. We discuss several possibilities which may cause this problem.

Moskalenko, I. V.↗

NASA NTRS2002

Propagation of Secondary Antiprotons and Cosmic Rays in the Galaxy

Recent more accurate antiproton data obtained by the BESS team during the last solar minimum pose a challenge to conventional propagation models of cosmic rays. In particular, the diffusive reacceleration model, which matches well key secondary/primary isotope ratios in cosmic rays, fails to reproduce the secondary antiproton spectrum. Tuning both secondary/primary isotope ratios and antiprotons is possible, but requires artificial breaks in the diffusion coefficient and the injection spectrum of primaries. We will discuss some possibilities to overcome these difficulties in the propagation models. We will present new results of our calculation of CR propagation in the Galaxy using the GALPROP code.

Moskalenko, I. V.↗

NASA NTRS1992

The ALICE instrument and the measured cosmic ray elemental abundances

A Large Isotopic Composition Experiment (ALICE) is a balloon-borne spectrometer which can determine the elemental and isotopic composition of galactic cosmic rays with energies near 1 GeV/nucleon. ALICE was flown from Prince Albert, Canada in August 1987, and remained at float altitude (120,000 feet) for 14.7 hours. In this paper, we describe the experimental methods and analysis which will be used for subsequent isotopic analysis. We obtained very precise charge resolution over the entire designed range: 0.10 and 0.16 charge units at neon and iron, respectively. Results on the galactic cosmic ray abundances and absolute fluxes of the elements from neon through nickel are reported.

Esposito, J. A.↗

NASA NTRS1991

A measurement of the cosmic-ray H-2 and He-3 spectra and H-2/He-4 and He-3/He-4 ratios in 1989

The energy spectra of H-2 and H-3 nuclei up to energies of 450 and 800 MeV nucleon, respectively, were measured during a balloon flight of the NASA/NMSU Balloon Borne Magnet Facility on September 5, 1989. These isotopes were cleanly resolved from the more abundant H-1 and He-4 using a measurement of rigidity versus velocity as measured in a high-resolution scintillation counter. After correction for atmospheric secondaries the measured H-2/He-4 and He-3/He-4 ratios are both consistent with the production expected if H-1 and He-4 have the same path length in the galaxy as heavier cosmic-ray nuclei such as C and Fe, to within about 20 percent. Solar modulation effects play an important role in this uncertainty. This result favors a generally similar propagation history, along with similar types of sources for H-1 and He-4 and the heavier cosmic-ray nuclei.

Webber, W. R.↗

NASA NTRS1991

Measurement of cosmic-ray proton and helium spectra during the 1987 solar minimum

The differential cosmic-ray proton and helium spectra have been measured during the 1987 solar minimum using a balloon-borne superconducting magnetic spectrometer launched from Prince Albert, Canada. The changing geomagnetic cutoff along the balloon trajectory was observed in the low-energy proton data to be about 25 percent below the nominal calculated values. The absolute particle fluxes were approximately equal to the highest fluxes observed at the previous solar minimum in 1977. Above 10 GV the observed spectra are represented by a power law in rigidity with spectral indices of 2.74 + or - 0.02 for protons and 2.68 + or - 0.03 for helium. The measurements above 200 MeV per nucleon are consistent with rigidity power-law interstellar spectra modulated with the solar modulation parameter phi = 500 MV. The energy dependence of the proton-to-helium ratio is consistent with rigidity power-law injection spectra and rigidity-dependent propagation without reacceleration.

Seo, E. S.↗

NASA NTRS1990

Astrogam - A magnetic rigidity spectrometer for gamma-ray astronomy

A novel concept is presented for a high-energy gamma-ray telescope with an extended energy range and excellent energy and angular resolution. The characteristics of Astrogam, a wide-field camera which makes an all-sky survey, are enumerated. Consideration is given to the instrument's unique features: wide energy range (four orders of magnitude and energy, which will bridge the gap between satellite and ground-based observations); excellent source location precision (multiple scattering error dominating nuclear recoil and measurement error below 20 GeV); and excellent energy resolution (1-percent energy resolution). Astrogam will make observations in the GTE energy range possible and could resolve complex source regions like the Crab pulsar/Nebular system, the Galactic center, and the Geminga region as well as discover the true nature of the sources.

Adams, James H., Jr.↗

NASA NTRS1990

Large Isotope Spectrometer for Astromag

The Large Isotope Spectrometer for Astromag (LISA) is an experiment designed to measure the isotopic composition and energy spectra of cosmic rays for elements extending from beryllium through zinc. The overall objectives of this investigation are to study the origin and evolution of galactic matter; the acceleration, transport, and time scales of cosmic rays in the galaxy; and search for heavy antinuclei in the cosmic radiation. To achieve these objectives, the LISA experiment will make the first identifications of individual heavy cosmic ray isotopes in the energy range from about 2.5 to 4 GeV/n where relativistic time dilation effects enhance the abundances of radioactive clocks and where the effects of solar modulation and cross-section variations are minimized. It will extend high resolution measurements of individual element abundances and their energy spectra to energies of nearly 1 TeV/n, and has the potential for discovering heavy anti-nuclei which could not have been formed except in extragalactic sources.

Binns, W. R.↗

NASA NTRS1990

Cosmic ray proton spectra at low rigidities

The cosmic ray proton rigidity spectra have been investigated with data collected in the Low Energy Antiproton (LEAP) balloon flight experiment flown from Prince Albert, Canada in 1987. The LEAP apparatus was designed to measure antiprotons using a superconducting magnet spectrometer with ancillary scintillator, time-of-flight, and liquid Cherenkov detectors. After reaching float altitude the balloon drifted south and west to higher geomagnetic cutoffs. The effect of the changing geomagnetic cutoff on the observed spectra was observed during analysis of the proton data along the balloon trajectory. This is the first measurement of the primary and splash albedo spectra over a wide rigidity range (few hundred MV to about 100 GV) with a single instrument.

Seo, E. S.↗