The Energetic Trans-Iron Cosmic Ray Experiment (ENTICE)

Abstract

The ENTICE experiment is one of two instruments that comprise the "Orbiting Astrophysical Spectrometer in Space (OASIS)", which is presently undergoing a NASA "Astrophysics Strategic Mission Concept Study". ENTICE is designed to make high precision measurements of the abundances of individual elements from neon through the actinides and, in addition, will search for possible superheavy nuclei in the galactic cosmic rays. The ENTICE instrument utilizes silicon detectors, aerogel and acrylic Chercnkov counters, and a scintillating optical fiber hodoscope to measure the charge and energy of these ultra-heavy nuclei for energies greater than 0.5 GeV/nucleon. It is a large instrnment consisting of four modules with a total effective geometrical factor of ~20 m^2sr. Measurements made in space for a period of three years with ENTICE will enable us to determine if cosmic rays include a component of recently synthesized transuranic elements _(94)Pu and _(96)Cm, to measure the age of that component, and to test the model of the OB association origin of galactic cosmic rays. Additionally, these observations will enable us to study how diffusive shock acceleration of cosmic rays operates differently on interstellar grains and gas.

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