The anomalous abundance of cosmic ray nitrogen and oxygen nuclei at low energies

Recent measurements using a cosmic ray telescope on the Pioneer 10 spacecraft have revealed an anomalous spectrum of nitrogen and oxygen nuclei relative to other nuclei such as He and C, in the energy range 3-30 MeV/nuc. The intensity of nitrogen and oxygen nuclei is enhanced by a factor of up to 20 relative to their abundance in galactic or solar cosmic rays

Interplanetary MeV electrons of Jovian origin

Observations of low energy electron increases observed in interplanetary space on Pioneer 10 are reported as it approached Jupiter. These discrete bursts were several hundred times the normal quiet-time electron flux, and became more frequent as one approached Jupiter resulting in the quasi-continuous presence of large fluxes of these electrons in interplanetary space. It is noted that the integrated flux from quiet-time electrons is comparable to the integrated ambient electron flux itself. In addition, the spectrum of electrons observed in Jupiter's magnetosphere, on Pioneer 10 in interplanetary space near Jupiter, for the quiet-time increases near the earth, and for the ambient electron spectrum are all remarkably similar. These two lines of evidence suggest the possibility that Jupiter could be the source of most of the ambient electrons at low energies

Jovian protons and electrons: Pioneer 11

A preliminary account of the Pioneer 11 passage through the Jovian magnetosphere as viewed by particle detector systems is presented. Emphasis is placed on the region well within the Jovian magnetosphere using data from the LET-II telescope, which measured the proton flux from 0.2 to 21.2 MeV in seven energy intervals and electrons from 0.1 to 2 MeV in four energy intervals. The relative trajectories of Pioneer 10 and 11 are discussed and indicate that Pioneer 11 was exposed to a much lower total radiation dose than Pioneer 10, largely as a result of the retrograde trajectory which approached and exited the inner region of the magnetosphere at high latitudes. Angular distributions, calculations from Pioneer 11 magnetic field data, and the low-energy nucleon component are included in the discussion

The interplanetary acceleration of energetic nucleons

Co-rotating proton and electron streams are the dominant type of low-energy (0.1-10 MeV/nucleon) particle event observed at 1 A.U. The radial dependence of these events was studied between 1 and 4.6 A.U. using essentially identical low-energy detector systems on IMP 7, Pioneer 10 and Pioneer 11. It was expected that at a given energy, the intensity of these streams would decrease rapidly with heliocentric distance due to the effects of interplanetary adiabatic deceleration. Instead it was found that from event to event the intensity either remains roughly constant or increases significantly (more than an order of magnitude) between 1 and 3 A.U. It appears that interplanetary acceleration processes are the most plausible explanation. Several possible acceleration models are explored

Measurement of the fluxes of galactic cosmic ray H-2 and He-3 in 1972 - 1973

If a nearby source of low-energy helium is present, which has traversed a relatively small amount of matter and thus has not caused the production of a significant amount of H-2 or He-3, then these abundance ratios will be suppressed, particularly at low energies. This seems to be the most likely explanation for low ratios

The gamma-ray spectrum of Centaurus A: A high-resolution observation between 70 keV and 8 MeV

The NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Low Energy Gamma ray Spectrometer (LEGS) observed the nearby active nucleus galaxy Centaurus A (NGC 5128) during a balloon flight on 1981 November 19. There is no evidence of a break in the spectrum or of any line features. The 1.6 MeV limit is a factor of 8 lower than the 1974 line flux, indicating that, if the 1974 feature was real, and, if it was narrow, then the line intensity decreased significantly between 1974 and 1981. The lack of observed annihilation radiation from Cen A, combined with the temporal variations that are seen in the X-ray and gamma-ray intensities, constrain the size of the emission region to be between 10 to the 13th power and 5 x 10 to the 17th power cm

SPI Measurements of the Diffuse Galactic Hard X-ray Continuum

INTEGRAL Spectrometer SPI data from the first year of the Galactic Centre Deep Exposure has been analysed for the diffuse continuum from the Galactic ridge. A new catalogue of sources from the INTEGRAL Imager IBIS has been used to account for their contribution to the celestial signal. Apparently diffuse emission is detected at a level ~10% of the total source flux. A comparison of the spectrum of diffuse emission with that from an analysis of IBIS data alone shows that they are consistent. The question of the contribution of unresolved sources to this ridge emission is still open.Comment: Proceedings of the 5th INTEGRAL Workshop, Munich 16-20 February 2004. ESA SP-552. Reference to Terrier et al. (2004) updated to include astro-ph versio

Search for Outbursts in the Narrow 511-keV Line from Compact Sources Based on INTEGRAL Data

We present the results of a systematic search for outbursts in the narrow positron annihilation line on various time scales (5x10^4 - 10^6 s) based on the SPI/INTEGRAL data obtained from 2003 to 2008. We show that no outbursts were detected with a statistical significance higher than ~6 sigma for any of the time scales considered over the entire period of observations. We also show that, given the large number of independent trials, all of the observed spikes could be associated with purely statistical flux fluctuations and, in part, with a small systematic prediction error of the telescope's instrumental background. Based on the exposure achieved in ~6 yr of INTEGRAL operation, we provide conservative upper limits on the rate of outbursts with a given duration and flux in different parts of the sky.Comment: 16 pages, 8 figures. To be published in Astronomy Letters, 2010, Vol. 36, No 4, p. 23

Gamma-ray burst spectroscopy capabilities of the BATSE/GRO experiment

A scintillation spectrometer is included in each of the eight BATSE/GRO detector modules, resulting in all-sky coverage for gamma-ray bursts. The scientific motivation, design and capabilities of these spectrometers for performing spectral observations over a wide range of gamma-ray energies and burst intensities are described

Detection of a fast, intense and unusual gamma ray transient

An unusual transient pulse of approximately 50 keV was detected by the gamma-ray burst sensor network using nine space probes and satellites. Its characteristics are unlike those of the known variety of gamma-ray bursts and therefore suggest that it was formed either by a completely different origin species or in a very different manner. It is identified with the LMC supernova remnant N49