Elemental Spectra from the CREAM-I Flight

TL;DR

This paper presents preliminary measurements of cosmic ray energy spectra for elements with charge Z=1 to 26, obtained from the CREAM-I balloon flight, advancing understanding of cosmic ray composition up to 10^15 eV.

Contribution

It reports the first energy spectra measurements of cosmic rays for multiple elements from the CREAM-I balloon experiment, demonstrating measurement capabilities and data collection methods.

Findings

Preliminary energy spectra for various elements are obtained.

Multiple detector systems provide measurement redundancy.

Results extend cosmic ray data up to ~10^15 eV.

Abstract

The Cosmic Ray Energetics And Mass (CREAM) is a balloon-borne experiment designed to measure the composition and energy spectra of cosmic rays of charge Z = 1 to 26 up to an energy of ~ 10^15 eV. CREAM had two successful flights on long-duration balloons (LDB) launched from Mc- Murdo Station, Antarctica, in December 2004 and December 2005. CREAM-I achieves a substantial measurement redundancy by employing multiple detector systems, namely a Timing Charge Detector and a Silicon Charge Detector (SCD) for particle identification, and a Transition Radiation Detector and a sampling tungsten/scintillating-fiber ionization calorimeter (CAL) for energy measurement. In this paper, preliminary energy spectra of various elements measured with CAL/SCD during the first 42-day flight are presented.