TRAPPED PROTON FLUXES AT LOW EARTH ORBITS MEASURED BY THE PAMELA EXPERIMENT

Journal Article · Tue Jan 20 00:00:00 EST 2015 · Astrophysical Journal Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1088/2041-8205/799/1/L4· OSTI ID:22364520

Adriani, O.; Bongi, M. ^[1]; Barbarino, G. C. ^[2]; Bazilevskaya, G. A. ^[3]; Bellotti, R.; Bruno, A. ^[4]; Boezio, M.; Bonvicini, V.; Carbone, R. ^[5]; Bogomolov, E. A. ^[6]; Bottai, S. ^[7]; Cafagna, F. ^[8]; Campana, D. ^[9]; Carlson, P. ^[10]; Casolino, M.; De Donato, C.; De Santis, C.; De Simone, N.; Felice, V. Di ^[11]; others, and

---

1. Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Florence, I-50019 Sesto Fiorentino, Florence (Italy)
2. Department of Physics, University of Naples "Federico II," I-80126 Naples (Italy)
3. Lebedev Physical Institute, RU-119991 Moscow (Russian Federation)
4. Department of Physics, University of Bari, I-70126 Bari (Italy)
5. INFN, Sezione di Trieste, I-34149 Trieste (Italy)
6. Ioffe Physical Technical Institute, RU-194021 St. Petersburg (Russian Federation)
7. INFN, Sezione di Florence, I-50019 Sesto Fiorentino, Florence (Italy)
8. INFN, Sezione di Bari, I-70126 Bari (Italy)
9. INFN, Sezione di Naples, I-80126 Naples (Italy)
10. KTH, Department of Physics, and the Oskar Klein Centre for Cosmoparticle Physics, AlbaNova University Centre, SE-10691 Stockholm (Sweden)
11. INFN, Sezione di Rome "Tor Vergata," I-00133 Rome (Italy)

We report an accurate measurement of the geomagnetically trapped proton fluxes for kinetic energy above ∼70 MeV performed by the PAMELA mission at low Earth orbits (350 ÷ 610 km). Data were analyzed in the frame of the adiabatic theory of charged particle motion in the geomagnetic field. Flux properties were investigated in detail, providing a full characterization of the particle radiation in the South Atlantic Anomaly region, including locations, energy spectra, and pitch angle distributions. PAMELA results significantly improve the description of the Earth's radiation environment at low altitudes, placing important constraints on the trapping and interaction processes, and can be used to validate current trapped particle radiation models.

• OSTI ID: 22364520
• Journal Information: Astrophysical Journal Letters, Vol. 799, Issue 1; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 2041-8205
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

79 ASTROPHYSICS
COSMOLOGY AND ASTRONOMY
ASTROPHYSICS
CHARGED PARTICLES
COSMIC PROTONS
COSMIC RAY FLUX
ENERGY SPECTRA
GEOMAGNETIC FIELD
INCLINATION
KINETIC ENERGY
LIMITING VALUES
MEV RANGE
ORBITS
SPACE VEHICLES
TRAPPED PROTONS
TRAPPING