Ultra-heavy nuclei in the Galactic cosmic rays

doi:10.1016/0920-5632(95)00019-6

Nuclear Physics B - Proceedings Supplements

Volume 39, Issue 1, February 1995, Pages 165-170

https://doi.org/10.1016/0920-5632(95)00019-6 Get rights and content

The significance of ultra-heavy nuclei in the cosmic rays as a possible link between nucleosynthesis in supernovae and cosmic ray acceleration is discussed. The current observational situation is reviewed and future prospects briefly examined. This talk is an expanded version of one presented at the COSPAR general assembly [6].

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Cited by (9)

Science and technology with nuclear tracks in solids
2005, Radiation Measurements
Fission track dating has greatly expanded its usefulness to geology over the last 40 years. It is central to thermochronology—the use of shortened fission tracks to decipher the thermal history, movement, and provenance of rocks. When combined with other indicators, such as zircon color and (U–Th)/He, a range of temperatures from $40^{\circ}$ C to $400^{\circ}$ C can be studied. Combining fission track analysis with cosmogenic nuclide decay rates, one can study landscape development and denudation of passive margins. Technological applications have expanded from biological filters, radon mapping, and dosimetry to the use of ion track microtechnology in microlithography, micromachining by ion track etching, microscopic field emission tips, magnetic nanowires as magnetoresistive sensors, microfluidic devices, physiology of ion channels in single cells, and so on. In nuclear and particle physics, relatively insensitive glass detectors have been almost single-handedly responsible for our knowledge of cluster radioactivity, and plastic track detectors together with automated measuring systems have been used at the Bevalac, Brookhaven, CERN, and GSI, mainly to study fragmentation of high-energy heavy nuclei. Almost everything we know about the ultraheavy cosmic rays has been learned using Lexan on the Long Duration Exposure Facility and BP-1 phosphate glass on the Mir Station. New topics include development of calorimetric aerogels capable of measuring kinetic energies of hypervelocity interstellar and interplanetary dust grains in space and research on identification of strains of Bacillus spores by measurements of their size and swelling rates when humidified.
On search and identification of tracks due to short-lived SHE nuclei in extraterrestrial crystals
2003, Radiation Measurements
The unique approach for search and unambiguous identification of short-lived (T_1/2=10³–10⁷ years) superheavy nuclei in cosmic-ray products of the recent nucleosynthesis in our Galaxy are discussed.
It is based on: (a) the ability of non-conducting crystals to register and to store for many million years the tracks due to fast nuclei with atomic number Z⩾20 (“fossil” tracks);
(b) calibrations of the said crystals with accelerated heavy ions (20⩽Z⩽92) and on revealing the volume etchable track length (VETL) of the fast nuclei coming to rest inside crystals—both of fossil and “fresh” tracks—to determine the charge distribution of cosmic-ray nuclei tracks and
(c) the so-called “four-zone” model of tracks in crystals (and also glasses) which provides not only the VETL track length dependence for 20⩽Z⩽92 nuclei but also demonstrates the regular annealing behavior of VETL of 20⩽Z⩽92 nuclei in a broad temperature interval.
This approach was first applied in the early 1980s to investigate the “fossil” tracks due to 22⩽Z⩽92 cosmic-ray nuclei in olivine crystals from meteorites-pallasite Marjalahti and Eagle Station.
The discovery of Th–U cosmic-ray nuclei tracks in 1980 was unambiguously confirmed by calibrations of the same crystals with $^{238} U$ , $^{197} Au$ and $^{208} Pb$ accelerated ions in the late 1980s. More than 1600 tracks due to cosmic-ray actinide nuclei were measured during the last two decades of the 20th century.
Also, 11 anomalously long tracks (track length exceeds by a factor (1.6±0.1) the track length due to Th–U nuclei were measured. The detailed analysis shows that at least 5 of these tracks could not be attributed to the Th–U nuclei. It means that now we have a preliminary proof on the existence Z⩾110 nuclei in cosmic-rays. The abundance is Z⩾110/Th–U=(1–3)×10⁻³ in Z⩾110 freshly formed cosmic-rays (time interval 10³–10⁷ years).
The method proposed can provide the necessary and sufficient conditions for the discovery of Z⩾110 nuclei in nature.
Application and analysis of SSNTD in the investigation of ultra-heavy galactic cosmic rays in the Dublin-Estec LDEF experiment
1997, Radiation Measurements
The ultra heavy cosmic ray experiment (UHCRE) on the Long Duration Exposure Facility (LDEF) collected approximately 3000 cosmic ray nuclei with Z>65 and energy greater than ∼1.5 GeV/nucleon using solid state nuclear track detectors (SSNTD). Almost forty per cent of the sample has been analysed to date providing a subsample of 16 actinides. The detectors that are used and the analysis applied to them are described together with results of the overall charge spectrum and estimates of the actinide / subactinide ratio $Z ≥ 88 (74≤ Z ≤87)$ .
The charge spectrum of ultra heavy nuclei, including actinides, in the cosmic radiation
1997, Advances in Space Research
The Ultra Heavy Cosmic Ray Experiment (UHCRE) on the Long Duration Exposure Facility (LDEF) collected approximately 3000 cosmic ray nuclei with Z>65 in the energy region E > 1.5 GeV/n. Almost forty per cent of the sample has been analysed to date. Details of the overall charge spectrum are outlined along with estimates of the actinide ratio, $Z≥88 (74≤Z≤87)$ . Procedures used in the investigation of nuclear fragmentation in the detector stacks are also described.
Investigation of Z ≥ 70 cosmic ray nuclei on the LDEF mission
1996, Radiation Measurements
Escaping the accelerator: How, when and in what numbers do cosmic rays get out of supernova remnants?
2011, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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Ultra-heavy nuclei in the Galactic cosmic rays

Phys. Rep.

Space Sci. Rev.

Nuclear Tracks and Radiation Measurements

Nuc. Phys. A

Usp Fiz Nauk

Phys Rev Lett

Adv. Space Research

Pub. Astr. Soc. Pacific

MNRAS