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An instrument to measure the spectrum of cosmic ray iron and other nuclei to above 100 GeV-nucleon

Technical Report ·
OSTI ID:5837228
; ; ; ;
A balloon-borne detector system for extending the study of cosmic ray composition to the energy region beyond 100 GeV/nucleon is described. The instrument incorporates an ionization calorimeter and a gas Cherenkov counter filled with freon for the determination of energies, and a charge module, consisting of scintillation and a lucite Cherenkov counter, for determining the charge of the incoming particle. The scintillators were utilized to determine the position of the incoming particle in addition to its charge. The characteristics of these detectors with respect to resolution, and the methods employed in laboratory calibration, cross-checks with flight data and actual performance in the flights are described in detail. Monte Carlo simulation of the ionization calorimeter and comparison of the response of the calorimeter and gas Cherenkov counter for complex nuclei was used to convert the observed calorimeter signal to absolute energy in a consistent manner.
Research Organization:
National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Greenbelt, MD (USA). Goddard Space Flight Center
OSTI ID:
5837228
Report Number(s):
N-79-13987
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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Related Subjects

440103* -- Radiation Instrumentation-- Nuclear Spectroscopic Instrumentation
440104 -- Radiation Instrumentation-- High Energy Physics Instrumentation
46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
CHERENKOV COUNTERS
COSMIC NUCLEI
COSMIC RADIATION
COSMIC RAY DETECTION
COSMIC RAY SPECTROMETERS
DETECTION
ELEMENTS
ENERGY RANGE
ENERGY SPECTRA
GAS SCINTILLATION DETECTORS
GEV RANGE
GEV RANGE 100-1000
IONIZING RADIATIONS
IRON
MEASURING INSTRUMENTS
METALS
NUCLEI
PERFORMANCE
RADIATION DETECTION
RADIATION DETECTORS
RADIATIONS
SCINTILLATION COUNTERS
SHOWER COUNTERS
SPECTRA
SPECTROMETERS
TRANSITION ELEMENTS