First measurements of cosmic-ray nuclei at high energy with CREAM

• Published in: Advances in Space Research
• Main Authors: N. H. Park, H. S. Ahn, J. J. Beatty, S. W. Nam, J.H. Park, Y. S. Yoon, S. L. Nutter, S. Coutu, S. Y. Zinn, K. C. Kim, Gabriele Bigongiari, J. Yang, L. Lutz, Simon P. Swordy, P. S. Marrocchesi, J. A. Jeon, Inkyu Park, S. P. Wakely, J. T. Childers, Michael DuVernois, P. J. Boyle, S. I. Mognet, N. B. Conklin, Patrick Allison, S. Minnick, Jung-Suk Han, A. Malinine, Paolo Maestro, O. Ganel, Riccardo Zei, Eun-Suk Seo, J. Wu, R. Sina, Maria Grazia Bagliesi, M. H. Lee, T. J. Brandt
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: 2008
• Subjects: Energy Research; Space and Planetary Science; Aerospace Engineering; General Earth and Planetary Sciences; Atmospheric Science; Geophysics; Astronomy and Astrophysics; Antarc*; Antarctic
• Online Access: https://www.openaccessrepository.it/record/135775; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.asr.2007.03.080

The balloon-borne cosmic-ray experiment CREAM-I (Cosmic-Ray Energetics And Mass) recently completed a successful 42-day flight during the 2004-2005 NASA/NSF/NSBF Antarctic expedition. CREAM-I combines an imaging calorimeter with charge detectors and a precision transition radiation detector (TRD). The TRD component of CREAM-I is targeted at measuring the energy of cosmic-ray particles with charges greater than Z� 3. A central science goal of this effort is the determination of the ratio of secondary to primary nuclei at high energy. This measurement is crucial for the reconstruction of the propagation history of cosmic rays, and consequently for the determination of their source spectra. First scientific results from this instrument are presented.