The nitrogen abundance in the cosmic ray source

Abstract

In this paper, new cosmic ray data on the isotopic and charge abundance of N nuclei are used, along with new cross section data for the fragmentation of O into N, to re-examine the question of the nitrogen abundance in the cosmic ray source. The cosmic ray data come from balloon flights made in 1976, 1977, and 1978. Both the N-15/N-14 ratio and N/O ratio were measured at the same intermediate energies at which the cross sections were measured, and the N/O ratio was also measured up to about 120 GeV/nuc.