Status of the GAMMA-400 project Galper, A.M.; Adriani, O.; Aptekar, R.L. ...
Advances in space research,
01/2013, Volume:
51, Issue:
2
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
The preliminary design of the new space gamma-ray telescope GAMMA-400 for the energy range 100MeV–3TeV is presented. The angular resolution of the instrument, 1–2° at Eγ∼100MeV and ∼0.01° at ...Eγ>100GeV, its energy resolution ∼1% at Eγ>100GeV, and the proton rejection factor ∼106 are optimized to address a broad range of science topics, such as search for signatures of dark matter, studies of Galactic and extragalactic gamma-ray sources, Galactic and extragalactic diffuse emission, gamma-ray bursts, as well as high-precision measurements of spectra of cosmic-ray electrons, positrons, and nuclei.
The satellite-borne experiment PAMELA has been used to make new measurements of cosmic ray H and He isotopes. The isotopic composition was measured between 100 and 600 MeV/n for hydrogen and between ...100 and 900 MeV/n for helium isotopes over the 23rd solar minimum from 2006 July to 2007 December. The energy spectrum of these components carries fundamental information regarding the propagation of cosmic rays in the galaxy which are competitive with those obtained from other secondary to primary measurements such as B/C.
ABSTRACT The nature of particle acceleration at the Sun, whether through flare reconnection processes or through shocks driven by coronal mass ejections, is still under scrutiny despite decades of ...research. The measured properties of solar energetic particles (SEPs) have long been modeled in different particle-acceleration scenarios. The challenge has been to disentangle the effects of transport from those of acceleration. The Payload for Antimatter Matter Exploration and Light-nuclei Astrophysics (PAMELA) instrument enables unique observations of SEPs including the composition and angular distribution of the particles about the magnetic field, i.e., pitch angle distribution, over a broad energy range (>80 MeV)-bridging a critical gap between space-based and ground-based measurements. We present high-energy SEP data from PAMELA acquired during the 2012 May 17 SEP event. These data exhibit differential anisotropies and thus transport features over the instrument rigidity range. SEP protons exhibit two distinct pitch angle distributions: a low-energy population that extends to 90° and a population that is beamed at high energies (>1 GeV), consistent with neutron monitor measurements. To explain a low-energy SEP population that exhibits significant scattering or redistribution accompanied by a high-energy population that reaches the Earth relatively unaffected by dispersive transport effects, we postulate that the scattering or redistribution takes place locally. We believe that these are the first comprehensive measurements of the effects of solar energetic particle transport in the Earth's magnetosheath.
The PAMELA space experiment will be launched on-board of a Russian Resurs DK1 satellite towards the end of 2005. The main scientific goal is the study of the antimatter component of the cosmic ...radiation. Three years of data taking will provide unprecedented statistics for antiprotons (80
MeV–190
GeV) and positrons (50
MeV–270
GeV) and will set the upper limit for the ratio
He
¯
/
He
below 10
−8. PAMELA is built around a permanent magnet silicon spectrometer, surrounded by a plastic scintillator anticoincidence shield. An electromagnetic calorimeter is used for particle identification and energy measurements. If PAMELA data exceed the storage allowance on the satellite or the daily downlink quota (20
GB), a second level trigger may be activated by uplink from ground. Information from the anticoincidence system and from the calorimeter will be included in the second level trigger condition, providing a selective reduction of data. The second level trigger condition provides a reduction of data of ∼60%, with a maximum systematic uncertainty in the proton (electron) spectra of 10% (3%). This uncertainty will be assessed during flight measuring one event every 10 without the second level trigger condition.
CLIMB: cosmic light isotopes and muons with balloons Pearce, M; Adriani, O; Boezio, M ...
Nuclear instruments & methods in physics research. Section A, Accelerators, spectrometers, detectors and associated equipment,
06/2004, Volume:
525, Issue:
1
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
A new balloon-borne experiment is proposed which will measure high-energy light isotopes at the top of the Earth's atmosphere and cosmic ray muons at fixed altitudes within the Earth's atmosphere.
ABSTRACT The Payload for Antimatter Matter Exploration and Light-nuclei Astrophysics (PAMELA) detector was launched on board the Russian Resurs-DK1 satellite on 2006 June 15. The data collected ...during the first four years have been used to search for large-scale anisotropies in the arrival directions of cosmic ray positrons. The PAMELA experiment allows for a full sky investigation, with sensitivity to global anisotropies in any angular window of the celestial sphere. Data samples of positrons in the rigidity range of 10 GV R 200 GV were analyzed. This article discusses the method and the results of the search for possible local sources through the analysis of anisotropy in positron data compared to the proton background. The resulting distributions of arrival directions are found to be isotropic. Starting from the angular power spectrum, a dipole anisotropy upper limit of δ = 0.076 at the 95% confidence level is determined. An additional search is carried out around the Sun. No evidence of an excess correlated with that direction was found.
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