Observations of Trapped Electrons and Positrons with E > 50 MeV in the Inner Radiation Belt by the PAMELA Magnetic Spectrometer

Geomagnetically trapped electrons and positrons with energy above 50 MeV were observed in PAMELA experiment on board Resurs DK satellite. The instrument consists of magnetic spectrometer, imaging electromagnetic calorimeter, time-of-flight system, anticoincidence and neutron detectors that provide unique particle identification and background rejection. PAMELA was collecting data since June 2006 till January 2016. The satellite orbit with initial altitude 350–600 km and inclination 70° crosses the inner radiation belt in South Atlantic Anomaly at L-shell ∼1.2. The trapped electrons and positrons were selected on the basis of a trajectory simulation in the Earth magnetic field. Features of the energy spectra of electrons and positrons at low energies are analyzed.

     

TeV Electrons and Positrons Measured by PAMELA Spectrometer

Abstract-The PAMELA magnetic spectrometer was launched onboard the Resurs-DK1 satellite to the Earth polar orbit with altitude of 350–600 km to study the fluxes of cosmic ray particles and antiparticles in a wide energy range. Starting science operation in July 2006, PAMELA spectrometer performed continuous observation without major interruption till January 2016 collected about 10 billion trigger events. New analysis included data for all period of observations in 2006–2016 with improved selection efficiency and it allows to extend measurements of total electron and positron flux in TeV region with better statistic accuracy. In this paper, the observed energy spectrum of electrons and positrons is presented and compared with the other modern measurements.

     

Features of the Mechanism of Formation of the Radiation Belt of High-Energy Electrons and Positrons

New results of the PAMELA experiment revealed significant difference in the electron and positrons flux and fraction between trapped particles of the radiation belt and quasitrapped particles. A decrease in the ratio of the electron-to-positron fluxes both with increasing altitude and with decreasing energy was observed for the inner radiation belt, but this does not fit in currently used models. The residual atmosphere density in the trapping region for L ~ 1.15?1.2 is estimated on the basis of calculations of trapped-particle trajectories in the Earth’s magnetosphere. It is shown that processes leading to the energy loss for trapped electrons and positrons in the interactions with residual-atmosphere atoms play an important role in the formation of fluxes of these particles, but these processes cannot cause the reduction of the positron fraction in the total flux at energies below some 100 MeV. The role of the process of δ-electron production in the formation of the belt of trapped electrons and positrons is considered. Allowance for this process makes it possible to explain the above reduction at least partly.     

高能电子和正电子在晶体沟道中的辐射

介绍了高能电子和正电子在晶体中的沟道辐射,对超相对论电子和正电子在周期弯曲晶体中的相干辐射进行了分析,并提出了初步的实验设想. The channeling radiation of high energy electrons and positrons in crystals was introduced. According to the new idea proposed by A.V.Korol, the coherent radiation of ultra relativistic electrons and positrons channeled in periodically bent crystals was analyzed. The characteristics of the radiation were obtained by using classic electromagnetic theory and a tentative experimental plan for testing was suggested.     

高空核爆炸注入辐射带电子的大气扩散损失

利用辐射带电子大气倾角扩散的福克-普朗克方程,通过推导与拟合处理扩散系数表征式,构造二阶精度有限差分格式,给出辐射带捕获电子大气扩散损失的数值计算方法.计算高空核爆炸裂变β谱电子注入辐射带后在不同L壳上的通量损失和能谱变化,结果表明,当L < 1.3时,大气作用引起的扩散损失效应明显,低能电子比高能电子消失要快,电子通量初始阶段衰减很快,随后逐渐近似成时间指数函数形式衰减.     

Conversion of Ultrarelativistic Electrons to Positrons in Thick Targets

Physics of Atomic Nuclei - The values calculated for the electron-to-positron conversion coefficients in a form differential with respect to the energy of product positrons and with respect to the...     

基于AKEBONO哨声波参数的内辐射带高能电子扩散模拟

为能准确地模拟内辐射带中哨声波对高能电子扩散损失的影响,基于内辐射带AKEBONO哨声波参数统计模型,及随纬度分布的背景冷等离子体密度模型,对引起电子扩散损失的大气分子,空间等离子体嘶声、闪电激发的哨声、人工激发的甚低频三类哨声波,利用准线性扩散理论,计算1.4≤ L≤2.0区域的不同能量电子,受到库仑碰撞和波粒回旋共振相互作用的弹跳周期平均赤道投掷角扩散系数,分析不同作用机制、不同类哨声波、不同能量、不同磁壳参数等对辐射带高能电子扩散损失的影响.结果表明：在赤道面损失锥角附近,高能电子主要受到库仑碰撞作用而扩散;在赤道投掷角接近90°附近区域,等离子体嘶声和闪电激发的哨声是引起扩散的主要因素;内辐射带电子主要受到甚低频电磁波波粒回旋共振扩散影响;扩散系数对高能电子能量及其所处磁壳参数比较敏感,通常,高能电子的能量或所处磁壳参数越大,扩散系数越大.     

Dynamic Evolution of Outer Radiation Belt Electrons due to Whistler-Mode Chorus

Following our preceding work, we perform a further study on dynamic evolution of energetic electrons in the outer radiation belt L=4.5 due to a band of whistler-mode chorus frequency distributed over a standard Gaussian spectrum. We solve the 2D bounce-averaged Fokker-Planek equation by allowing incorporation of cross diffusion rates. Numerical results show that whistler-mode chorus can be effective in acceleration of electrons at large pitch angles, and enhance the phase space density for energies of about 1 MeV by a factor of 10^2 or above in about one day, consistent with observation of significant enhancement in flux of energetic electrons during the recovery phase of a geomagnetic storm. Moreover, neglecting cross diffusion often leads to overestimates of the phase space density evolution at large pitch angle by a factor of 5-10 after one day, with larger errors at smaller pitch angle, suggesting that cross diffusion also plays an important role in wave-particle interaction.     

Positrons and electrons in primary cosmic rays as measured in the PAMELA experiment

The PAMELA experiment is being carried out on board the Russian satellite Resurs DK1 placed in the near-earth near-polar orbit on June 15, 2006. The apparatus comprising a silicon-strip magnetic spectrometer and an electromagnetic calorimeter allows measurement of electron and positron fluxes in cosmic rays in a wide energy interval from ～100 MeV to hundreds of GeV. The high-energy electron and positron separation technique is discussed and the data on positron-to-electron ratio in primary cosmic rays up to E ≈ 10 GeV from the 2006–2007 measurements are reported in this work.     

Boron Isotopes in the PAMELA Experiment

Analysis of the isotope composition of nuclei in galactic cosmic rays (GCR) in the PAMELA orbital international experiment allows studying the problems of cosmic-ray origin and propagation in our Galaxy. PAMELA magnetic spectrometer data provided the significant progress in the study of the light nuclei isotope composition of GCR from H to Be in the energy range ∼0.1–1 GeV/nucleon. This makes it possible to estimate the contribution of local (∼100 pc) young (∼10⁶ years) interstellar sources (LISS) into GCR fluxes from supernova explosions. The analysis of boron (B) isotope fluxes in the GCR has so far been carried out only in the energy range ∼0.08–0.17 GeV/nucleon in the space experiments Voyager, Ulysses, ACE. In the present contribution the attempt was done to determine the ¹¹B/¹⁰B ratio in the energy range ∼0.1–1.0 GeV/nucleon for the first time on the base of 2006–2014 PAMELA data using the measurements of the detected nuclei rigidities, velocities and ionization losses in a multilayer calorimeter. The new PAMELA results are consistent with existing as experimental data and those expected from simulations. However the statistical and systematic measurement uncertainties do not allow to separate the local boron source contributions into GCR fluxes. The preliminary results of the boron isotope flux analysis in GCR (¹⁰B, ¹¹B spectra and ¹¹B/¹⁰B ratio dependences on the rigidity and energy) are presented as well as the existing measurement data and simulation results.

     

Simulation of Resonant Interaction between Energetic Electrons and Whistler-Mode Chorus in the Outer Radiation Belt

We construct a realistic model to evaluate the chorus wave-particle interaction in the outer radiation belt L = 4.5. This model incorporates a plasmatrough number density model, a field-aligned density model and a realistic wave power and frequency model. We solve the 2D bounce-averaged momentum-pitch-angle Fokker-Planck equation and show that the Whistler-mode chorus can be effective in the acceleration of electrons, and enhance the phase space density for energies of -1 MeV by a factor from 10 to 10^3 in about two days, consistent with the observation. We also demonstrate that ignorance of the electron number density variation along field line and magnetic local time in the previous work yields an overestimate of energetic electron phase space density by a factor 5-10 at large pitch-angle after two days, suggesting that a realistic plasma density model is very important to evaluate the evolution of energetic electrons in the outer radiation belt.     

Cylindrical and Spherical Electron-Acoustic Shock Waves in Electron-Positron-Ion Plasmas with Nonextensive Electrons and Positrons

Electron-acoustic shock waves (EASWs) in an unmagnetized four-component plasma (containing hot electrons and positrons following the q-nonextensive distribution, cold mobile viscous electron fluid, and immobile positive ions) are studied in nonplanar (cylindrical and spherical) geometry. With the help of the reductive perturbation method, the modified Burgers equation is derived. Analytically, the effects of nonplanar geometry, nonextensivity, relative number density and temperature ratios, and cold electron kinematic viscosity on the basic properties (viz. amplitude, width, speed, etc.) of EASWs are discussed. It is examined that the EASWs in nonplanar geometry significantly differ from those in planar geometry. The results of this investigation can be helpful in understanding the nonlinear features of EASWs in various astrophysical plasmas.     

Nonlinear Propagation of Positron-Acoustic Periodic Travelling Waves in a Magnetoplasma with Superthermal Electrons and Positrons

The nonlinear propagation of positron acoustic periodic(PAP) travelling waves in a magnetoplasma composed of dynamic cold positrons, superthermal kappa distributed hot positrons and electrons, and stationary positive ions is examined. The reductive perturbation technique is employed to derive a nonlinear Zakharov-Kuznetsov equation that governs the essential features of nonlinear PAP travelling waves. Moreover, the bifurcation theory is used to investigate the propagation of nonlinear PAP periodic travelling wave solutions. It is found that kappa distributed hot positrons and electrons provide only the possibility of existence of nonlinear compressive PAP travelling waves. It is observed that the superthermality of hot positrons, the concentrations of superthermal electrons and positrons, the positron cyclotron frequency, the direction cosines of wave vector k along the z-axis,and the concentration of ions play pivotal roles in the nonlinear propagation of PAP travelling waves. The present investigation may be used to understand the formation of PAP structures in the space and laboratory plasmas with superthermal hot positrons and electrons.     

正电子面沟道辐射的非线性特征

经典物理学指出,在电磁场中作加速运动的带电粒子将不断向外辐射能量.在晶体沟道中运动的带电粒子也不例外,晶格场可以使带电粒子的辐射能量达到很高.对于10MeV的正电子,辐射能量可达keV量级.粒子在沟道中的运动行为决定于粒子晶体的相互作用势,常用的相互作用势有Lindhard势、Moliere势和正弦平方势.由于粒子在沟道中的运动行为十分类似于震荡器中运动的自由电子,可望把沟道辐射改造为Χ射线激光或γ射线激光.从Lindhard势出发,将其展开到四次项,在经典力学框架内,粒子的运动方程可以化为含立方项的二阶非线性微分方程,并利用Jacobian椭圆函数和第一类全椭圆积分解析地表示了系统的解和粒子运动周期,导出了正电子面沟道辐射的瞬时辐射强度、平均辐射强度和最大辐射频率,指出了利用沟道辐射作为γ激光的可能性.     

Capabilities of the Gamma-400 Gamma-ray Telescope for Observation of Electrons and Positrons in the TeV Energy Range

The space-based GAMMA-400 gamma-ray telescope will measure the fluxes of gamma rays in the energy range from ∼20 MeV to several TeV and cosmic-ray electrons and positrons in the energy range from several GeV to several TeV to investigate the origin of gamma-ray sources, sources and propagation of the Galactic cosmic rays and signatures of dark matter. The instrument consists of an anticoincidence system, a converter-tracker (thickness one radiation length, 1 X₀), a time-of-flight system, an imaging calorimeter (2 X₀) with tracker, a top shower scintillator detector, an electromagnetic calorimeter from CsI(Tl) crystals (16 X₀) with four lateral scintillation detectors and a bottom shower scintillator detector. In this paper, the capability of the GAMMA-400 gamma-ray telescope for electron and positron measurements is analyzed. The bulk of cosmic rays are protons, whereas the contribution of the leptonic component to the total flux is ∼10⁻³ at high energy. The special methods for Monte Carlo simulations are proposed to distinguish electrons and positrons from proton background in the GAMMA-400 gamma-ray telescope. The contribution to the proton rejection from each detector system of the instrument is studied separately. The use of the combined information from all detectors allows us to reach a proton rejection of up to ∼1 × 10⁴.

     

Acoustic Diagnosis of Internal Waves on the Black Sea Shelf According to Tomographic Experiment Data

Acoustical Physics - On the northeastern shelf of the Black Sea in 2010, a tomographic experiment was carried out on the counterpropagation of phase-shift keyed acoustic signals. During the day,...     

Solar Flare Activity from 2006 to 2016 according to Data from the PAMELA and ARINA Spectrometers

In the period from 2006 to 2016, experiments based on the use of the PAMELA and ARINA spectrometers and aimed at detecting cosmic rays were performed on board the RESURS-DK1 satellite. Although the main goal of these experiments was to study the galactic component of cosmic rays, the instruments in question also detected, over a broad energy range, solar particles accelerated in powerful explosive processes on the Sun (solar flares). A list of solar events in which the PAMELA and ARINA spectrometers detected, in various years of their operation, an increase in the intensities of fluxes of solar protons whose energies were above 45 MeV is presented among other things.     

Estimation of the Upper Limit for the Amplitude of the Dipole Anisotropy of the Total Flux of 25-Gev to 1-Tev Cosmic-Ray Electrons and Positrons

Physics of Atomic Nuclei - Searches for the anisotropy of the total electron and positron fluxes in high-energy galactic cosmic rays are performed. Data collected by the PAMELA magnetic...