Deuterium and He-3 in cosmic rays

Abstract

Observation of a large flux of antiprotons in cosmic rays prompted many to postulate new ideas relating to the origin and propagation of cosmic rays in the Galaxy, within the framework of the secondary hypothesis. Under this hypothesis, cosmic rays traverse a large amount of matter either in the source region or in the interstellar space. As a result, large amounts of deuterium and He-3 are also produced as a consequence of spallation of helium and heavier nuclei. In this paper, the spectra of these isotopes are derived, using various models for the propagation of cosmic rays and compare with the existing observations.