Properties of Iron Primary Cosmic Rays: Results from the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer

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Abstract
We report the observation of new properties of primary iron (Fe) cosmic rays in the rigidity range 2.65 GV to 3.0 TV with 0.62×106 iron nuclei collected by the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer experiment on the International Space Station. Above 80.5 GV the rigidity dependence of the cosmic ray Fe flux is identical to the rigidity dependence of the primary cosmic ray He, C, and O fluxes, with the Fe/O flux ratio being constant at 0.155±0.006. This shows that unexpectedly Fe and He, C, and O belong to the same class of primary cosmic rays which is different from the primary cosmic rays Ne, Mg, and Si class.
Funding Information
  • National Aeronautics and Space Administration (HELIO15F-0005)
  • U.S. Department of Energy (DE-AC02-05CH11231)
  • Johnson Space Center
  • CERN
  • European Space Agency
  • Massachusetts Institute of Technology
  • Chinese Academy of Sciences
  • Key Laboratory of Particle Astrophysics, Institute of High Energy Physics
  • China Academy of Space Technology
  • National Natural Science Foundation of China
  • Ministry of Science and Technology of the People’s Republic of China
  • China Scholarship Council
  • Shandong University
  • Academy of Finland (321882)
  • Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique
  • Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales
  • Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt (50OO1403, 50OO1805)
  • Instituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare
  • Agenzia Spaziale Italiana (2014-037-R.1-2017, 2019-19-HH.0)
  • Università degli Studi di Perugia (2019-2-HH.0)
  • National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF-2018R1A6A1A06024970)
  • Kyungpook National University
  • Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología
  • Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek (680-1-004)
  • Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (CERN/FIS-PAR/0013/2019)
  • Centro de Investigaciones Energéticas, Medioambientales y Tecnológicas
  • Centre for Industrial Technological Development
  • Secretaría de Estado de Investigación, Desarrollo e Innovación
  • Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (PID2019–107988 GB-C21/C22, CEX2019-000920-S, MDM-2015-0509)
  • Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Förderung der Wissenschaftlichen Forschung
  • Ministry of Science and Technology, Taiwan (107-2119-M-006-015-MY3, 109-2112-M-001-029, CDA-105-M06)
  • National Science Foundation (1455202, 1551980)
  • Marshall Space Flight Center
  • Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México
  • Academia Sinica
  • Türkiye Atom Enerjisi Kurumu (2020TAEK(CERN)A5.H1.F5-26)
  • Institute of Electrical Engineering
  • Shandong Institute of Advanced Technology
  • Julich-Aachen Research Alliance for High Performance Computing (JARA0052)
  • Center for High Energy Physics
  • Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias
  • Fondation Dr. Manfred Steuer
  • Wyle Laboratories (2014/T72497)
  • Ministry of Science and Higher Education, Russia