en
Scientific article
Open access
English

Helium in near Earth orbit

ContributorsAMS Collaboration
Published inPhysics letters. B, vol. 494, no. 3-4, p. 193-202
Publication date2000
Abstract

The helium spectrum from 0.1 to 100 GeV/nucleon was measured by the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS) during space shuttle flight STS-91 at altitudes near 380 km. Above the geomagnetic cutoff the spectrum is parameterized by a power law. Below the geomagnetic cutoff a second helium spectrum was observed. In the second helium spectra over the energy range 0.1 to 1.2 GeV/nucleon the flux was measured to be (6.3±0.9) x10-3(m2 sec sr)-1 and more than ninety percent of the helium was determined to be 3He (at the 90% CL). Tracing helium from the second spectrum shows that about half of the 3He travel for an extended period of time in the geomagnetic field and that they originate from restricted geographic regions similar to protons and positrons.

Citation (ISO format)
AMS Collaboration. Helium in near Earth orbit. In: Physics letters. B, 2000, vol. 494, n° 3-4, p. 193–202. doi: 10.1016/S0370-2693(00)01193-X
Main files (1)
Article (Published version)
accessLevelPublic
Identifiers
ISSN of the journal0370-2693
720views
273downloads

Technical informations

Creation12/19/2014 1:37:00 PM
First validation12/19/2014 1:37:00 PM
Update time03/14/2023 10:31:34 PM
Status update03/14/2023 10:31:34 PM
Last indexation01/16/2024 3:25:30 PM
All rights reserved by Archive ouverte UNIGE and the University of GenevaunigeBlack