Abundances of ultraheavy elements in the cosmic radiation - Results from HEAO 3

An analysis is presented that, for the first time, systematically normalizes the data from the HEAO 3 heavy nuclei experiment on the cosmic-ray abundances of all the elements heavier than germanium to that of iron. In the range of atomic number Z from 33 to 60, the analysis yields abundances of odd-...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inThe Astrophysical journal Vol. 346
Main Authors Binns, W. R., Israel, M. H., Garrard, T. L., Gibner, P. S., Kertzman, M. P.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Legacy CDMS 15.11.1989
Subjects
640101 - Astrophysics & Cosmology- Cosmic Radiation
ABUNDANCE
CHEMICAL COMPOSITION
CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSICS
COSMIC NUCLEI
COSMIC RADIATION
COSMIC RAY SOURCES
ELEMENT ABUNDANCE
ELEMENTS
GERMANIUM
IONIZATION
IONIZING RADIATIONS
IRON
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
METALS
NUCLEI
R PROCESS
RADIATIONS
SOLAR SYSTEM
Space Radiation
STAR EVOLUTION
TRANSITION ELEMENTS
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Summary:An analysis is presented that, for the first time, systematically normalizes the data from the HEAO 3 heavy nuclei experiment on the cosmic-ray abundances of all the elements heavier than germanium to that of iron. In the range of atomic number Z from 33 to 60, the analysis yields abundances of odd-even element pairs. The abundances are consistent with a cosmic-ray source having a composition similar to that of the solar system, but subject to source fractionation correlated with the first ionization potential (FIP) of each element. For Z greater than 60, the analysis yields abundances of element groups. For these heaviest nuclei, we find an enhancement of the abundance of the platinum group, elements with Z of 74-80, relative to that in propagated solar system source, and a corresponding increase in the abundance of the largely secondary elements in the 62-73 range. These abundances suggest that there is an enhancement of the r-process contribution to the source nuclei in the Z greater than 60 charge region. Over the entire region of charge, standard leaky box models of propagation satisfactorily model secondary production.
Bibliography:CDMS
Legacy CDMS
ISSN: 0004-637X
ISSN:0004-637X
1538-4357
DOI:10.1086/168082