CALET data of the cosmic-ray iron and nickel spectra is open to public: unprecedented precision measurements
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Compilation of iron and nickel fluxes multiplied by E^2.6 as a function of kinetic energy per nucleon with CALET experimental points (in red).
CALET, launched to the International Space Station in August 2015, is a calorimeter to measure cosmic rays and has been accumulating scientific data for over six years. CALET measured the spectra of the cosmic-ray iron and nickel from 10 GeV/n to 2.0 TeV/n and 8.8 GeV/n to 240 GeV/n, respectively. The tables of the spectra measured by CALET are open to the public via DARTS in April 2022.
Despite cosmic-ray nickel being much less abundant than iron, the unprecedented measurement was able to confirm that both elements have very similar fluxes in shape and energy dependence. This suggests that their origin, acceleration, and propagation might be explained by invoking an identical mechanism in the energy range explored so far. These results were published in Physical Review Letters on June 14, 2021, for iron, and April 1, 2022, for nickel, respectively.
Links
- Measurement of the Iron Spectrum in Cosmic Rays from 10 GeV/n to 2.0 TeV/n with the Calorimetric Electron Telescope on the International Space Station
https://journals.aps.org/prl/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevLett.126.241101DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.126.241101
- Direct Measurement of the Nickel Spectrum in Cosmic Rays in the Energy Range from 8.8 GeV/n to 240 GeV/n with CALET on the International Space Station
https://journals.aps.org/prl/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevLett.128.131103DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.128.131103
- CALET
https://iss.jaxa.jp/kiboexp/equipment/ef/calet/ - CALET succeeds in direct measurements of cosmic-ray electron spectrum up to 4.8 TeV
https://www.waseda.jp/top/en/news/60343 - Direct Measurement of the Cosmic-Ray Proton Spectrum from 50 GeV to 10 TeV with the Calorimetric Electron Telescope on the International Space Station
https://journals.aps.org/prl/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevLett.122.181102 - Direct Measurement of the Cosmic-Ray Carbon and Oxygen Spectra from 10 GeV/n to 2.2 TeV/n with the Calorimetric Electron Telescope on the International Space Station
https://journals.aps.org/prl/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevLett.125.251102 - DARTS/CALET
https://darts.isas.jaxa.jp/astro/calet/
- Measurement of the Iron Spectrum in Cosmic Rays from 10 GeV/n to 2.0 TeV/n with the Calorimetric Electron Telescope on the International Space Station