Galactic Cosmic Ray Energy Spectra for Heavy Elements (Ne to Zn) from ∼0.8 to ∼10 GeV/nuc with the SuperTIGER Instrument

Abstract

SuperTIGER (Trans-Iron Galactic Element Recorder) is a large-area balloon-borne instrument built to measure the galactic cosmic-ray (GCR) abundances of elements from Z=10 (Ne) through Z=56 (Ba) at energies from ~0.8 to ~10 GeV/nuc. SuperTIGER flew over Antarctica for a record-breaking 55 days, from December 8, 2012 to February 1, 2013. We will report progress on calculations of galactic cosmic ray spectra corrected to the top of the atmosphere for abundant elements between Ne and Zn from the SuperTIGER flight data. The energy spectra calculations will include up to date refinements to the energy calibrations for the acrylic and aerogel Cherenkov detectors in the instrument, and we will report on new instrument and atmospheric corrections to the top of the atmosphere for energies and abundances. Heinz and Sunyaev (2002) suggested that microquasar jets like those observed in GRS 1915+105 and GRO J1655-40 may be observable as near monoenergetic peaks in heavy ion spectra in the 3-10 GeV/nuc energy range. The large area and long flight duration of SuperTIGER is particularly suited to looking for these microquasar signatures with good statistics. We will compare our SuperTIGER spectra with ACE/CRIS and HEAO-3 spectra and with model GCR spectra solar modulated for the time period of the flight, and we will search for features that may be produced by microquasar jets.

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