COSMIC RAY ENERGETICS AND MASS: FIRST FLIGHT AND BEYOND

• Main Authors: E. S. Seo, H. S. Ahn, S. O. Chin, O. Ganel, K. C. Kim, M. H. Lee, A. Malinine, R. Sina, J. Wu, Y. S. Yoon, S. Y. Zinn, P. Allison, J. J. Beatty, M. G. Bagliesi, G. Bigongiari, P. Maestro, P. S. Marrocchesi, R. Zei, P. Boyle, S. Swordy, S. Wakely, J. T. Childers, M. A. Duvernois, N. B. Conklin, S. Coutu, S. I. Mognet, S. Nutter, S. Minnick
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: Antarc*; Antarctica
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.554.8908; http://www.atic.umd.edu/pub/cream/man7submitted.pdf

The Cosmic Ray Energetics And Mass instrument is configured with particle detectors to measure cosmic-ray composition from protons to iron nuclei over the energy range from ~1011 to ~1015 eV in a series of balloon flights. The goal is to observe cosmic-ray spectral features and/or abundance changes that might signify a limit to supernova acceleration. Particle charge (Z) measurements are made with a timing-based detector and a pixelated silicon matrix. Particle energy measurements are made with a transition radiation detector for Z> 3 and a sampling tungsten/scintillator calorimeter for Z ≥ 1. The first flight of the instrument took place in Antarctica December 2004 – January 2005. It flew for a record-setting 42 days. Preliminary results from the ongoing analysis are presented, and future plans are discussed.