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Cosmic-Ray Isotopic Composition

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Composition and Origin of Cosmic Rays

Part of the book series: NATO ASI Series ((ASIC,volume 107))

Abstract

Ever since the discovery more than thirty years ago that the cosmic rays include a small component of nuclei heavier than helium, the study of the composition of these heavy nuclei has been pursued as a means of investigating the nature of the cosmic ray sources and the conditions under which cosmic rays are transported from their sources to the Earth. Until recently the capabilities of available instrumentation allowed only the identification of the charge of cosmic ray nuclei. Recent advances in the development of high resolution detectors for use in charged particle identifier telescopes have made possible, in principle, the determination of the relative abundances of the isotopes of all elements from hydrogen (Z = 1) through nickel (Z = 28) in the low energy (~20-1000 MeV/amu) cosmic rays. The isotopic compositions of a number of important elements in this region of the periodic table have now been accurately measured, making possible the investigation of a number of questions which could not be resolved on the basis of elemental composition alone. In this paper I will discuss two of these questions: the “age” of the cosmic rays and the origin of cosmic ray source matter.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Space Sciences Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley, USA

    M. E. Wiedenbeck

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  1. M. E. Wiedenbeck
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Iowa, USA

    Maurice M. Shapiro

  2. Institute for Astrophysics, University of Bonn, Germany

    Maurice M. Shapiro

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© 1983 D. Reidel Publishing Company

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Wiedenbeck, M.E. (1983). Cosmic-Ray Isotopic Composition. In: Shapiro, M.M. (eds) Composition and Origin of Cosmic Rays. NATO ASI Series, vol 107. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-7166-0_4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-7166-0_4

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-94-009-7168-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-94-009-7166-0

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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