Search for: All records

We present the first measurement of cosmic-ray fluxes of ${}^6\mathrm{Li}$and ${}^7\mathrm{Li}$isotopes in the rigidity range from 1.9 to 25 GV. The measurements are based on $9.7\times {10}^5$ ${}^6\mathrm{Li}$and $1.04\times {10}^6$ ${}^7\mathrm{Li}$nuclei collected by the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer on the International Space Station from May 2011 to October 2023. We observe that over the entire rigidity range the ${}^6\mathrm{Li}$and ${}^7\mathrm{Li}$fluxes exhibit nearly identical time variations and, above $\sim 4\mathrm{GV}$, the time variations of ${}^6\mathrm{Li}$, ${}^7\mathrm{Li}$, He, Be, B, C, N, and O fluxes are identical. Above $\sim 7\mathrm{GV}$, we find an identical rigidity dependence of the ${}^6\mathrm{Li}$and ${}^7\mathrm{Li}$fluxes. This shows that they are both produced by collisions of heavier cosmic-ray nuclei with the interstellar medium and, in particular, excludes the existence of a sizable primary component in the ${}^7\mathrm{Li}$flux. Published by the American Physical Society2025 

We report the properties of precision time structures of cosmic nuclei He, Li, Be, B, C, N, and O fluxes over an 11-year solar cycle from May 2011 to November 2022 in the rigidity range from 1.92 to 60.3 GV. The nuclei fluxes show similar but not identical time variations with amplitudes decreasing with increasing rigidity. In particular, below 3.64 GV the Li, Be, and B fluxes, and below 2.15 GV the C, N, and O fluxes, are significantly less affected by solar modulation than the He flux. We observe that these differences in solar modulation are linearly correlated with the differences in the spectral indices of the cosmic nuclei fluxes. This shows, in a model-independent way, that solar modulation of galactic cosmic nuclei depends on their spectral shape. In addition, solar modulation differences due to nuclei velocity dependence on the mass-to-charge ratio ( $A/Z$) are not observed. Published by the American Physical Society2025 

Precision measurements by the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS) on the International Space Station of the deuteron ( $D$) flux are presented. The measurements are based on $21\times {10}^6$ $D$nuclei in the rigidity range from 1.9 to 21 GV collected from May 2011 to April 2021. We observe that over the entire rigidity range the $D$flux exhibits nearly identical time variations with the $p$, ${}^3\mathrm{He}$, and ${}^4\mathrm{He}$fluxes. Above 4.5 GV, the $D/{}^4\mathrm{He}$flux ratio is time independent and its rigidity dependence is well described by a single power law $\propto R^{\mathrm{\Delta }}$with ${\mathrm{\Delta }}_{D/{}^4\mathrm{He}}=-0.108\pm 0.005$. This is in contrast with the ${}^3\mathrm{He}/{}^4\mathrm{He}$flux ratio for which we find ${\mathrm{\Delta }}_{{}^3\mathrm{He}/{}^4\mathrm{He}}=-0.289\pm 0.003$. Above $\sim 13\mathrm{GV}$we find a nearly identical rigidity dependence of the $D$and $p$fluxes with a $D/p$flux ratio of $0.027\pm 0.001$. These unexpected observations indicate that cosmic deuterons have a sizable primarylike component. With a method independent of cosmic ray propagation, we obtain the primary component of the $D$flux equal to $9.4\pm 0.5\%$of the ${}^4\mathrm{He}$flux and the secondary component of the $D$flux equal to $58\pm 5\%$of the ${}^3\mathrm{He}$flux. Published by the American Physical Society2024 

The novel 9.7m Schwarzschild-Couder Telescope (SCT), utilizing aspheric dual-mirror optical system, has been constructed as a prototype medium size x-ray telescope for the Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) observatory. The prototype SCT (pSCT) is designed to achieve simultaneously the wide (≥ 8°) field of view and the superior imaging resolution (0.067 per pixel) to significantly improve scientific capabilities of the observatory in conducting the sky surveys, the follow-up observations of multi-messenger transients with poorly known initial localization and the morphology studies of x-ray sources with angular extent. In this submission, we describe the hardware and software implementations of the telescope optical system as well as the methods specifically developed to align its complex optical system, in which both primary and secondary mirrors are segmented. The pSCT has detected Crab Nebula in June 2020 during ongoing commissioning, which was delayed due to worldwide pandemic and is not yet completed. Verification of pSCT performance is continuing and further improvement of optical alignment is anticipated.