Cosmic rays from cosmic strings.
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Journal Article↗
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Radiation doses and LET distributions of cosmic rays.
Among cosmic rays, the heavy nuclei ( HZE particles) like iron provide the dominant contribution to the dose equivalent during exposures in space. The LET distributions and radiation doses of cosmic-ray components have been calculated--with and without the quality factors--for a set of shielding and tissue self-shielding penetration depths. The relative contributions of heavy ions among solar flare particles to the dose equivalent are also explored. The transport calculations of the nuclei in air, shielding materials, and biological tissue-like material were carried out using the partial and total nuclear cross-section equations and nuclear propagation codes of Silberberg and Tsao . Outside the magnetosphere , at solar minimum, the product of the unshielded dose and the quality factors of cosmic-ray protons and heavy nuclei with atomic number Z greater than or equal to 6 are about 5 and 47 rem/year, respectively. With 4 g/cm2 aluminum shielding and at a depth of 5 cm in a biological phantom of 30 cm diameter, the respective values of the dose equivalents are about 4 and 11 rem/year. Due to the hard spectrum of cosmic rays, the attenuation of protons thus is relatively modest, while that of heavy nuclei is larger due to the larger interaction cross section. The dose equivalent of neutrons in the shielded case mentioned above is similar to that of protons. The biological risks are tentatively assessed in terms of the BEIR 1980 report. Uncertainties in risks due to possible large RBE values at low doses of high-LET radiation and due to the microbeam nature of damage by heavy ions are pointed out. Certain experiments and studies by radiobiologists are suggested for reducing the uncertainties in the estimates of the risks.
Cosmic Radiation↗
Radiation environment induced by cosmic ray particle fluxes in the International Space Station orbit according to recent galactic and solar cosmic ray models.
Radiation characteristics (particle fluxes, doses, and LET spectra) are calculated for spacecraft in the International Space Station orbit. The calculations are made in terms of the dynamic model for galactic cosmic rays and the probabilistic model for solar cosmic rays developed at the Institute of Nuclear Physics of Moscow State University.
Cosmic Radiation↗
Plasma wakefield acceleration for ultrahigh-energy cosmic rays.
A cosmic acceleration mechanism is introduced which is based on the wakefields excited by the Alfvén shocks in a relativistically flowing plasma. We show that there exists a threshold condition for transparency below which the accelerating particle is collision-free and suffers little energy loss in the plasma medium. The stochastic encounters of the random accelerating-decelerating phases results in a power-law energy spectrum: f(epsilon) proportional, variant 1/epsilon(2). As an example, we discuss the possible production in the atmosphere of gamma ray bursts of ultrahigh-energy cosmic rays (UHECR) exceeding the Greisen-Zatsepin-Kuzmin cutoff. The estimated event rate in our model agrees with that from UHECR observations.
Journal Article↗
Spallation processes and nuclear interaction products of cosmic rays.
Most cosmic-ray nuclei heavier than helium have suffered nuclear collisions in the interstellar gas, with transformation of nuclear composition. The isotopic and elemental composition at the sources has to be inferred from the observed composition near the Earth. The source composition permits tests of current ideas on sites of origin, nucleosynthesis in stars, evolution of stars, the mixing and composition of the interstellar medium and injection processes prior to acceleration. The effects of nuclear spallation, production of radioactive nuclides and the time dependence of their decay provide valuable information on the acceleration and propagation of cosmic rays, their nuclear transformations, and their confinement time in the Galaxy. The formation of spallation products that only decay by electron capture and are relatively long-lived permits an investigation of the nature and density fluctuations (like clouds) of the interstellar medium. Since nuclear collisions yield positrons, antiprotons, gamma rays and neutrinos, we shall discuss these topics briefly.
Astronomical Phenomena↗
Ultra-high-energy cosmic rays from superconducting cosmic strings.
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Journal Article↗
Galactic cosmic ray composition and energy spectra.
Galactic cosmic ray nuclei represent a significant risk to long-duration spaceflight outside the magnetosphere. We review briefly existing measurements of the composition and energy spectra of heavy cosmic ray nuclei, pointing out which species and energy ranges are most critical to assessing cosmic ray risks for spaceflight. Key data sets are identified and a table of cosmic ray abundances is presented for elements from H to Ni (Z = 1 to 28). Because of the 22-year nature of the solar modulation cycle, data from the approaching 1998 solar minimum is especially important to reducing uncertainties in the cosmic ray radiation hazard. It is recommended that efforts to model this hazard take advantage of approaches that have been developed to model the astrophysical aspects of cosmic rays.
Cosmic Radiation↗
Black hole production by cosmic rays.
Ultrahigh energy cosmic rays create black holes in scenarios with extra dimensions and TeV-scale gravity. In particular, cosmic neutrinos will produce black holes deep in the atmosphere, initiating quasihorizontal showers far above the standard model rate. At the Auger Observatory, hundreds of black hole events may be observed, providing evidence for extra dimensions and the first opportunity for experimental study of microscopic black holes. If no black holes are found, the fundamental Planck scale must be above 2 TeV for any number of extra dimensions.
Journal Article↗
Cosmic ray impact on extrasolar earth-like planets in close-in habitable zones.
Because of their different origins, cosmic rays can be subdivided into galactic cosmic rays and solar/stellar cosmic rays. The flux of cosmic rays to planetary surfaces is mainly determined by two planetary parameters: the atmospheric density and the strength of the internal magnetic moment. If a planet exhibits an extended magnetosphere, its surface will be protected from high-energy cosmic ray particles. We show that close-in extrasolar planets in the habitable zone of M stars are synchronously rotating with their host star because of the tidal interaction. For gravitationally locked planets the rotation period is equal to the orbital period, which is much longer than the rotation period expected for planets not subject to tidal locking. This results in a relatively small magnetic moment. We found that an Earth-like extrasolar planet, tidally locked in an orbit of 0.2 AU around an M star of 0.5 solar masses, has a rotation rate of 2% of that of the Earth. This results in a magnetic moment of less than 15% of the Earth's current magnetic moment. Therefore, close-in extrasolar planets seem not to be protected by extended Earth-like magnetospheres, and cosmic rays can reach almost the whole surface area of the upper atmosphere. Primary cosmic ray particles that interact with the atmosphere generate secondary energetic particles, a so-called cosmic ray shower. Some of the secondary particles can reach the surface of terrestrial planets when the surface pressure of the atmosphere is on the order of 1 bar or less. We propose that, depending on atmospheric pressure, biological systems on the surface of Earth-like extrasolar planets at close-in orbital distances can be strongly influenced by secondary cosmic rays.
Animals↗
The local time dependence of the anisotropic solar cosmic ray flux.
The distribution of the solar cosmic radiation flux over the earth is not uniform, but the result of complex phenomena involving the interplanetary magnetic field, the geomagnetic field and latitude and longitude of locations on the earth. The latitude effect relates to the geomagnetic shield; the longitude effect relates to local time. For anisotropic solar cosmic ray events the maximum particle flux is always along the interplanetary magnetic field direction, sometimes called the Archimedean spiral path from the sun to the earth. During anisotropic solar cosmic ray event, the locations on the earth viewing "sunward" into the interplanetary magnetic field direction will observe the largest flux (when adjustments are made for the magnetic latitude effect). To relate this phenomena to aircraft routes, for anisotropic solar cosmic ray events that occur during "normal quiescent" conditions, the maximum solar cosmic ray flux (and corresponding solar particle radiation dose) will be observed in the dawn quadrant, ideally at about 06 hours local time.
Aircraft↗
Atmospheric cosmic rays and solar energetic particles at aircraft altitudes.
Galactic cosmic rays, which are thought to be produced and accelerated by a variety of mechanisms in the Milky Way galaxy, interact with the solar wind, the earth's magnetic field, and its atmosphere to produce hadron, lepton, and photon fields at aircraft altitudes that are quite unlike anything produced in the laboratory. The energy spectra of these secondary particles extend from the lowest possible energy to energies over an EeV. In addition to cosmic rays, energetic particles, generated on the sun by solar flares or coronal mass ejections, bombard the earth from time to time. These particles, while less energetic than cosmic rays, also produce radiation fields at aircraft altitudes which have qualitatively the same properties as cosmic rays. The authors have calculated atmospheric cosmic-ray angular fluxes, spectra, scalar fluxes, and ionization, and compared them with experimental data. Agreement with these data is seen to be good. These data have been used to calculate equivalent doses in a simplified human phantom at aircraft altitudes and the estimated health risks to aircraft crews. The authors have also calculated the radiation doses from several large solar energetic particle events (known as GLEs, or Ground Level Events), which took place in 1989, including the very large event known as GLE 42, which took place on September 29th and 30th of that year. The spectra incident on the atmosphere were determined assuming diffusive shock theory. Unfortunately, there are essentially no experimental data with which to compare these calculations.
Aerospace Medicine↗
Cosmic ray exposure factors for Shuttle altitudes derived from calculated cut-off rigidities.
The allowed cosmic radiation flux accessible to an earth-orbiting spacecraft is a complex function of the satellite position and the geomagnetic cutoff characteristics at each zenith and azimuth angle at each position. We have determined cosmic ray exposure factors for the galactic cosmic ray spectrum for typical shuttle altitudes and inclinations up to 50 degrees. We have utilized d world grid of trajectory-derived cutoff rigidity calculations at 400 km altitude to determine geomagnetic transmission functions that permit a simple and direct calculation of the allowed cosmic ray spectrum to a 400 km satellite orbit. If the interplanetary cosmic ray spectrum is multiplied by the orbit-averaged geomagnetic transmission function the result is the allowed cosmic ray spectrum at the spacecraft.
Altitude↗
Distributed reacceleration of cosmic rays.
We develop a model in which cosmic rays, in addition to their initial acceleration by a strong shock, are continuously reaccelerated (e.g., by weak shocks) while propagating through the galaxy. The equations describing this acceleration scheme are solved analytically (approximating ionization losses by a cutoff) and numerically. Solutions for the spectra of primary and secondary cosmic rays are given in a closed analytic form, and they allow a rapid search in parameter space for viable propagation models with distributed reacceleration included. The observed boron-to-carbon ratio can be reproduced by the reacceleration theory over a range of escape parameters, some of them quite different from the standard "leaky box" model. It is also shown that even a very modest amount of reacceleration by strong shocks causes the boron-to carbon ratio to level off at sufficiently high energies, and this effect may be observed in the CRNE data. Several other curiosities in the data may be explained naturally if a modest amount of distributed reacceleration is invoked, including (a) the apparent truncation at low energy in the otherwise exponential pathlength distribution associated with the leaky box model, (b) the sub-iron isotopic anomalies and other effects noted by Silberberg et al., and (c) the discrepancy between the reported 10Be lifetime and the lifetime of cosmic rays in the dense strata of the galactic disk.
Acceleration↗
Measurement for the dose-rates of the cosmic-ray components on the ground.
In this study, we aimed to measure the directly ionizing component (muons and photons) and the indirectly ionizing component (neutrons) of the cosmic-ray spectra and evaluate their dose rate contribution to the total dose rate on a ground level in Japan. Measurements were carried out in Tohoku University, Japan, from October 2000. The pulse-height spectra of the cosmic-ray photons and muons were measured with a 12.7 cm diameter and 12.7 cm long NaI(Tl) scintillation detector. In order to measure energy spectra of cosmic-ray photons and muons, response functions of the detector to photons and muons were determined by the Monte Carlo simulation codes. The cosmic-ray photon dose was evaluated directly from the measured pulse-height spectrum by using the spectrum weight function, and the cosmic-ray muon dose was evaluated by converting the measured pulse height spectrum into deposited energy within the detector. The quantity of the cosmic-ray electrons is estimated to be very small and is not taken into account in this study. The cosmic-ray neutron spectrum and the neutron dose were measured by using a multi-moderator spectrometer (Bonner ball) and a rem counter. The measurements could finally give the annual absorbed dose in tissue of the cosmic-ray muons of 315 microSv/y and annual ambient doses of the cosmic-ray photons and neutrons on the ground in Japan of 55 microSv/y and 31 microSv/y, respectively.
Background Radiation↗
Solar cosmic rays as a specific source of radiation risk during piloted space flight.
Solar cosmic rays present one of several radiation sources that are unique to space flight. Under ground conditions the exposure to individuals has a controlled form and radiation risk occurs as stochastic radiobiological effects. Existence of solar cosmic rays in space leads to a stochastic mode of radiation environment as a result of which any radiobiological consequences of exposure to solar cosmic rays during the flight will be probabilistic values. In this case, the hazard of deterministic effects should also be expressed in radiation risk values. The main deterministic effect under space conditions is radiation sickness. The best dosimetric functional for its analysis is the blood forming organs dose equivalent but not an effective dose. In addition, the repair processes in red bone marrow affect strongly on the manifestation of this pathology and they must be taken into account for radiation risk assessment. A method for taking into account the mentioned above peculiarities for the solar cosmic rays radiation risk assessment during the interplanetary flights is given in the report. It is shown that radiation risk of deterministic effects defined, as the death probability caused by radiation sickness due to acute solar cosmic rays exposure, can be comparable to risk of stochastic effects. Its value decreases strongly because of the fractional mode of exposure during the orbital movement of the spacecraft. On the contrary, during the interplanetary flight, radiation risk of deterministic effects increases significantly because of the residual component of the blood forming organs dose from previous solar proton events. The noted quality of radiation responses must be taken into account for estimating radiation hazard in space.
Cosmic Radiation↗
Galactic cosmic ray flux simulation and prediction.
A dynamic galactic cosmic ray model is proposed to quantitatively describe the z=1-28 ions and electrons of E=10-10(5) MeV/nucleon and their particle flux variations around the Earth's orbit and beyond the Earth's magnetosphere due to diverse large-scale variations of solar activity factors. The variations of large-scale heliospheric magnetic fields and the galactic cosmic ray flux variation time delays relative to solar activity variations are simulated. The lag characteristics and sunspot number predictions having been determined in detail, the model can be used to predict galactic cosmic ray flux levels.
Cosmic Radiation↗
Precision measurement of cosmic-Ray antiproton spectrum
The energy spectrum of cosmic-ray antiprotons ( &pmacr;'s) has been measured in the range 0.18-3.56 GeV, based on 458 &pmacr;'s collected by BESS in a recent solar-minimum period. We have detected for the first time a characteristic peak at 2 GeV of &pmacr;'s originating from cosmic-ray interactions with the interstellar gas. The peak spectrum is reproduced by theoretical calculations, implying that the propagation models are basically correct and that different cosmic-ray species undergo a universal propagation. Future BESS data with still higher statistics will allow us to study the solar modulation and the propagation in detail and to search for primary &pmacr; components.
Journal Article↗
Issues in space radiation protection: galactic cosmic rays.
When shielding from cosmic heavy ions, one is faced with limited knowledge about the physical properties and biological responses of these radiations. Herein, the current status of space shielding technology and its impact on radiation health is discussed in terms of conventional protection practice and a test biological response model. The impact of biological response on optimum materials selection for cosmic ray shielding is presented in terms of the transmission characteristics of the shield material. Although liquid hydrogen is an optimum shield material, evaluation of the effectiveness of polymeric structural materials must await improvement in our knowledge of both the biological response and the nuclear processes.
Astronauts↗