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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 127 records · Page 7
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NASA NTRS1975

An instrument for the study of the composition of the electron component of cosmic rays

A telescope consisting of three spark chambers and two control scintillation counters has been designed and is used for investigating the composition of the cosmic ray electron component within the range of energies from 1.0 to 10.0 BeV by the EN assymetry method. The geometrical factor of the telescope is approximately 20 sq cm ster. Discharges are recorded in the chambers on a photo film. The telescope is oriented to the azimuth with an accuracy of + or - 3 deg.

Bogomolov, E. A.↗
NASA NTRS1974

A cosmic gamma ray burst measured by Apollo 16

A cosmic gamma ray burst at about 1058:21 UT on April 27, 1972, was detected with an omnidirectional scintillation counter on Apollo 16. The event whose energy was approximately 0.0002 erg/sq cm, was pulse height analyzed in 512 channels over the 0.067 less than or equal to E less than or equal to 5 MeV range, and shows a complex, multipeak structure on a 300 msec time scale. The burst was also measured by a collimated X-ray detector on Apollo 16, giving spectral data in the 2 to 8 keV range which, together with a simultaneous observation by Vela 6A, allows a directional determination.

Matteson, J. L.↗
NASA NTRS1975

Magnetic mass spectrometer search at 2750 m. for hypothetical massive particles

A search was conducted for hypothetical singly charged massive particles which might be produced in collisions of very highly energetic cosmic ray particles with nuclei in the upper atmosphere. If such particles have sufficiently long lifetime and small cross section for interaction, they could survive to mountain altitude. A cosmic ray spectrometer consisting of superconducting magnet, wire spark chambers and time-of-flight scintillation counters was used to search for these particles at mountain altitude (2750 m). For any choice of hypothetical mass in the 5 to 10 GeV/c-squared range the upper limit to the vertical intensity of the particle was observed to be less than or roughly equal to 10 to the -6th/sq. cm/s/(GeV/c).

Barber, H. B.↗
NASA NTRS1975

Cosmic ray mass and momentum spectra at mountain altitude

A cosmic ray mass spectrometer using a superconducting magnet, digitized wire spark chambers, and a scintillation counter time of flight system, has been operated at an altitude of 2750 meters. The apparatus is most sensitive to charged particles with momentum to mass ratios between 0.2 and 2.0. Results for the momentum spectra of protons and deuterons are presented, as well as upper limits for H-3 and He-3. The reaction nucleon + nucleon yields deuteron + pion accounts for part of the observed deuteron spectrum in the 0.9 to 3 GeV/c region.-

Barber, H. B.↗
NASA NTRS1975

Performance of and planned improvements to a mountain altitude cosmic ray mass spectrometer

A cosmic ray mass spectrometer with superconducting magnet, wire spark chambers, and time-of-flight scintillation counters has been operated at an altitude of 2750 meters. Various specifications of the spectrometer are presented and the method of event analysis described. Corrections to the data, resolutions and efficiencies of the spark chambers, and momentum resolution are discussed. Recent and planned improvements of the apparatus are indicated.

Jones, J. J.↗
NASA NTRS1976

Detection of nuclear gamma rays from Centaurus A

Results are reported for an observation of nuclear gamma rays in the energy range between 0.033 and 12.25 MeV from Centaurus A using a balloon-borne actively collimated NaI(Tl) crystal scintillation counter. The observing procedure is outlined, no systematic errors are found in the data, and power-law fits to the source's energy spectrum are attempted. A power law of approximately 0.86E to the -1.9 power photon/sq cm/sec per keV is shown to give an acceptable fit to the continuum, and the detection of two gamma-ray lines at 1.6 and 4.5 MeV, respectively, is discussed. It is found that the low-energy gamma-ray luminosity of Cen A is 9.4 by 10 to the 43rd power erg/sec for a distance of 5 Mpc and that Cen A is apparently variable in low-energy gamma radiation. It is suggested that the broad feature detected at 1.6 MeV may be due to three blended lines (possibly excited Ne-20, Mg-24, and Si-28), the 4.5-MeV line is most likely due to deexcitation of excited C-12, and the nuclear excitation results from either cosmic-ray bombardment of Cen A's interstellar medium or nucleosynthesis within the source.

Hall, R. D.↗
NASA NTRS1977

Spectra and angular distributions of atmospheric gamma rays from 0.3 to 10 MeV at lambda = 40 deg

Measurements of the spectral and angular distributions of atmospheric gamma sq cm rays in the energy range 0.3-10 MeV over Palestine, Texas, at residual depths of 2.5 and 70 g/sq cm are reported. In confirmation of the general features of a model prediction, the measurements show at 2.5 g/sq cm upward moving fluxes greater than the downward moving fluxes, the effect increasing with energy, and approximate isotropy at 70 g/sq cm. Numerous characteristic gamma-ray lines were observed, most prominently at 0.511, 1.6, 2.3, 4.4, and 6.1 MeV. Their intensities were also compared with model predictions. Observations were made with an actively shielded scintillator counter with two detectors, one of aperture 50 deg FWHM and the other of 120 deg FWHM. Above 1 MeV, contributions to the counting rate from photons penetrating the shield annulus and from neutron interactions were large; they were studied by means of a Monte Carlo code and are extensively discussed.

Ling, J. C.↗
NASA NTRS1978

Energy spectrum of medium energy gamma-rays from the galactic center region

A balloon-borne magnetic core digitized spark chamber with two assemblies of spark-chambers above and below the scintillation counters was used to measure the medium energy gamma ray flux from the galactic center region. Gamma ray calculations are based on the multiple scattering of the pair electrons in 15 aluminum plates interleaved in the spark chamber modules. Counting rates determined during ascent and at ceiling indicate the presence of diffuse component in this energy range. Preliminary results give an integral flux between 15 and 70 MeV compared to the differential points in other results.

Palmeira, R. A. R.↗
NASA NTRS1979

The time-of-flight system on the Goddard medium energy gamma-ray telescope

A scintillation counter time of flight system, incorporated into the Goddard 50 cm by 50 cm spark chamber gamma ray telescope is described. The system, which utilizes constant fractions timing and particle position compensation and digitizes up to 10 ns time differences to six bit accuracy in less than 500 ns is analyzed. The performance of this system during balloon flight is discussed.

Ross, R. W.↗
NASA NTRS1979

A search for low energy gamma rays from CG 195+4

A 13-deg-wide region of sky containing the high-energy gamma-ray source CG 195+4 was searched for X-ray and gamma-ray emission in the energy interval from 0.035 to 8.737 MeV. The balloon-altitude measurements were undertaken on October 4, 1977, at Palestine, Texas, and used an actively collimated scintillation counter. As a result of the measurements, low upper limits have been found for the spectrum from the source. Combined with the positive detections made with satellites at high energies, the measurements show that the photon number spectrum must have a spectral index harder than 2.0. The data appear inconsistent with models of the source in which the presumed neutron star is surrounded by a cloud thick to X-rays. Negative results of the search for periodicity are discussed.

Haymes, R. C.↗
NASA NTRS1980

The time-of-flight system on the Goddard medium energy gamma-ray telescope

A scintillation counter time-of-flight system has been incorporated into the Goddard 50 cm by 50 cm spark chamber gamma-ray telescope. This system, utilizing constant fraction timing and particle position compensation, digitizes up to 10 ns time differences to six bit accuracy in less than 500 ns. Event selection decisions, discriminating against upward-moving particles, are made prior to spark chamber triggering. The performance of this system during a November 1978 balloon flight is discussed.

Ross, R. W.↗
NASA NTRS1979

Prospects for experimental research on black holes in binary systems

Cygnus X-1, the single widely accepted example of a black hole in a binary system, is characterized by unusual X-ray properties. The X-ray spectrum of Cygnus X-1 is not cut off above 20 keV, as in most strong X-ray sources. Recent scintillation counter measurements reveal a power law spectrum extending from 40 to 200 keV with a photon spectral index of approximately 2.2. However, it is not clear that these and other X-ray properties of the system are related to the black-hole nature of Cygnus X-1. It is suggested that without a direct test to show that the mass of the compact object in other systems similar to Cygnus X-1 (Circinus X-1 and GX339-4) exceeds the limit of the neutron star mass, a better understanding of the accretion disk phenomenon must be achieved to demonstrate how the properties peculiar to these systems are related to the black hole nature of the compact object. Current accretion disk models are examined, including the alpha-accretion disk and two-temperature accretion disk models.

Long, K. S.↗
NASA NTRS1981

Role of the doubly stochastic Neyman type-A and Thomas counting distributions in photon detection

The sums of Meyman type-A and Thomas random variables are shown to retain their form under the constant multiplication parameter constraint. The conditions under which the two random variables converge in distribution to the fixed multiplicative Poisson, and to the Gaussian, are presented. It is shown that the latter result is important, in that it provides a solution to likelihood-ratio detection, estimation and discrimination problems in the presence of many kinds of signal and noise. Among the explicit applications presented are: (1) the photon-counter scintillation detection of nuclear particles when particle flux is low, (2) the photon-counting detection of weak optical signals in the presence of ionizing radiation, and (3) the design of a star-scanner spacecraft guidance system adequate for hostile space environments.

Teich, M. C.↗
NASA NTRS1981

A European X-ray astrophysics mission

Five instruments (Bragg Spectrometer, Large Area Proportional and Scintillation Counter Detectors, Wide Field X-ray Cameras and a Gamma-Ray Burst Monitor) are discussed and estimates of their performance are given. Their scientific aims are summarized and sample observing programmes are discussed.

Culhane, J. L.↗
NASA NTRS1985

The structure of the shower disk observed at Mt. Norikura

The structure of the EAS shower disk, the arrival time distribution of charged particles at the core of the small or middle size shower, is measured at Mt. Norikura in Japan. Four fast scintillation counters with an area of 0.25 sq m and a fast trigger system are added to the Mt. Norikura EAS array for the study.

Sasaki, H.↗
NASA NTRS1985

A large area cosmic muon detector located at Ohya stone mine

The chemical composition of the primary cosmic rays between 10 to the 15th power eV and 10 to the 18th power eV were determined by a Large Area Cosmic Muon Detector located at Ohya stone mine. The experimental aims of Ohya project are; (1) search for the ultra high-energy gamma-rays; (2) search for the GUT monopole created by Big Bang; and (3) search for the muon bundle. A large number of muon chambers were installed at the shallow underground near Nikko (approx. 100 Km north of Tokyo, situated at Ohya-town, Utsunomiya-city). At the surface of the mine, very fast 100 channel scintillation counters were equipped in order to measure the direction of air showers. These air shower arrays were operated at the same time, together with the underground muon chamber.

Nii, N.↗
NASA NTRS1985

Search for tachyons associated with extensive air showers in the ground level cosmic radiation

Events detected in a shielded plastic scintillation counter occurring in the 26 microsec preceding the arrival of an extensive air shower at ground level with local electron density or = 20 m to the -2 power and the 240 microsec after its arrival have been studied. No significant excess of events (tachyons) arriving in the early time domain have been observed in a sample of 11,585 air shower triggers.

Masjed, H. F.↗
NASA NTRS1988

The Cosmic Ray Nuclei Experiment on the Spacelab-II mission

The Cosmic Ray Nuclei Experiment flown on the Spacelab-II mission was designed to measure the elemental composition of individual cosmic ray nuclei (Li to Ni) from 40 Gev/amu to several TeV/amu. The detector utilizes plastic scintillation counters for charge measurement, and gas Cerenkov and transition radiation detectors for energy measurements. The data analysis is in progress and results on the energy spectra are expected in the near future.

Grunsfeld, John Mace↗