Ultra-Heavy Galactic Cosmic Ray Measurements and Source Abundances Analysis Progress for Both SuperTIGER Flights
ORAL
Abstract
Galactic Cosmic Ray (GCR) measurements up to $_{40}$Zr support a model in which GCR are accelerated from their source of 80$\%$ interstellar medium and 20$\%$ massive star material by supernovae in OB associations. Refractory elements, which more readily condense onto interstellar dust grains, are preferentially accelerated over volatiles. SuperTIGER (Super Trans-Iron Galactic Element Recorder) is a long-duration balloon-borne instrument designed to measure GCRs with resolved single element peaks from $_{10}$Ne to $_{40}$Zr and low statistics measurements up to $_{56}$Ba. SuperTIGER had two successful Antarctic flights: the first in 2012 for 55 days and the second in 2019 for 32 days. We report elemental abundances for $_{10}$Zr to $_{56}$Ba for the first SuperTIGER flight and their corresponding derived top-of-atmosphere (TOA) and Galactic Cosmic-Ray Source (GCRS) abundances and we report analysis progress for the second flight. GCR measurements above $_{40}$Zr show a break in the preferential acceleration of refractory elements, hinting to a different source or acceleration mechanism for elements above $_{40}$Zr. Future GCR measurements above $_{40}$Zr are important in constraining this multifaceted problem.
*This research was supported by NASA under grants NNX09AC17G, NNX14AB25G, NNX15AC23G and 80NSSC20K0405, by the McDonnell Center for the Space Sciences at Washington University, and by the Peggy and Steve Fossett Foundation.
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Presenters
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Nicole Osborn
- Washington University, St. Louis