Preliminary SuperTIGER Abundances of Galactic Cosmic-Rays for the Charge Interval Z=41-56 and Prospects for SuperTIGER-2

Abstract

The SuperTIGER (Trans-Iron Galactic Element Recorder) instrument was launched from Williams Field, Antarctica on December 8, 2012 and flew for 55 days at a mean altitude of 125,000 feet on a long-duration balloon flight. SuperTIGER measured the relative abundances of Galactic cosmic-ray nuclei with high statistical precision and well resolved individual element peaks in the charge range Z=10-40. In addition, SuperTIGER made exploratory measurements of the relative abundances up to Z=56. Although the statistics are low for charges greater than Z=40, we will show how the relative abundances of charges Z=40-56 compare to those reported by HEAO3. A second flight, SuperTIGER-II, is planned for December 2017. As SuperTIGER-II will fly during solar minimum, we estimate a ~50% increase in the particles collected per unit time as compared to SuperTIGER-I. With the combined data sets of SuperTIGER-I and II we will improve statistics in the Z=30-40 range and measure individual elemental abundances up to Z=56.

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