CaltechAUTHORS
Published June 2007 | Version public
Journal Article Metadata-only

An Overview of the Origin of Galactic Cosmic Rays as Inferred from Observations of Heavy Ion Composition and Spectra

Creators

  • 1. ROR icon Jet Propulsion Lab
  • 2. ROR icon Washington University in St. Louis
  • 3. ROR icon California Institute of Technology
  • 4. ROR icon Goddard Space Flight Center

Abstract

The galactic cosmic rays arriving near Earth, which include both stable and long-lived nuclides from throughout the periodic table, consist of a mix of stellar nucleosynthesis products accelerated by shocks in the interstellar medium (ISM) and fragmentation products made by high-energy collisions during propagation through the ISM. Through the study of the composition and spectra of a variety of elements and isotopes in this diverse sample, models have been developed for the origin, acceleration, and transport of galactic cosmic rays. We present an overview of the current understanding of these topics emphasizing the insights that have been gained through investigations in the charge and energy ranges Z ≲ 30 and E/M ≲ 1 GeV/nuc, and particularly those using data obtained from the Cosmic Ray Isotope Spectrometer on NASA's Advanced Composition Explorer mission.

Additional Information

© 2007 Springer Science+Business Media B.V. Received: 7 February 2007. Accepted: 16 April 2007. Published online: 27 June 2007. We are grateful to Nathan Yanasak and Jeff George for their contributions to the ACE/CRIS data analysis and to Richard Lingenfelter and Ryan Ogliore for their comments on the manuscript. This work was supported by NASA at Caltech (under grant NAG5-12929), JPL, Washington University, and GSFC.

Additional details

Identifiers

Eprint ID
19850
Resolver ID
CaltechAUTHORS:20100909-133903373

Funding

NASA
NAG5-12929
JPL
Washington University
Goddard Space Flight Center

Dates

Created
2010-09-10
Created from EPrint's datestamp field
Updated
2021-11-08
Created from EPrint's last_modified field

Caltech Custom Metadata

Caltech groups
Space Radiation Laboratory , Physics Department
Other Numbering System Name
Space Radiation Laboratory
Other Numbering System Identifier
2007-10