Cosmic Ray Velocity and Electric Charge Measurements in the AMS experiment

TL;DR

The AMS experiment on the ISS aims to precisely measure cosmic ray velocities and electric charges, enhancing understanding of cosmic ray origins and properties with high sensitivity to antimatter and dark matter.

Contribution

This paper details the AMS detector's capabilities for accurate charge and velocity measurements, which are novel in cosmic ray research.

Findings

Velocity measurement precision of 0.1% for singly charged particles

Charge separation capability up to iron (Z=26)

Enhanced understanding of cosmic ray production and propagation

Abstract

The Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS) is a particle physics detector designed to measure charged cosmic ray spectra with energies up to the TeV region and with high energy photon detection capability up to few hundred GeV. It will be installed on the International Space Station (ISS) in 2008 and will operate for more than three years. Due to its large acceptance, the flight duration and the state-of-art of particle identification techniques, AMS will have a remarkable sensitivity on antimatter and dark matter searches. The addition of different detector systems provide AMS with complementary and redundant electric charge and velocity measurements. The velocity of singly charged particles is expected to be measured with a precision of 0.1% and charge separation up to iron is attainable. The AMS capability of measuring a large range of electric charges and accurate velocities, will largely contribute to a better understanding of cosmic ray production, acceleration and propagation mechanisms in the galaxy.