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Update on the Search for Microquasar Signatures in SuperTIGER Flight Data

ORAL

Abstract

SuperTIGER (Trans-Iron Galactic Element Recorder) is a large-area, balloon-borne cosmic ray experiment designed to measure the galactic cosmic ray abundances of elements from Z=10 (Ne) to Z=56 (Ba) at energies from ~0.8 GeV/nuc to ~10 GeV/nuc.  SuperTIGER flew for a record 55 days over Antarctica in 2012-2013 and for a second flight of over 32 days in 2019-2020.  Heinz and Sunyaev (202) suggested that microquasar jets may be observable as near monoenergetic peaks in heavy ion spectra at GeV/nuc energies.  The large area and long exposure times of SuperTIGER make it an instrument well-suited for looking for such signatures.  In this presentation, we will provide an update to the SuperTIGER search for microquasar signatures in Fe and Si spectra, using our latest energy calibrations from our most recent comparison of flight data and simulations.  We will discuss in detail the sensitivity of the instrument for such a search with respect to both the calibrated energy resolution as well as the absolute spectral intensities, for both the full 2012-2013 flight as well as for shorter time subsets.  We will also address the microquasar signature search in the 2019-2020 flight.

Presenters

  • Allan W Labrador

    California Institute of Technology, Caltech

Authors

  • Allan W Labrador

    California Institute of Technology, Caltech

  • W R Binns

    Washington University, St. Louis

  • Richard Bose

    Washington University, St. Louis

  • Theresa J Brandt

    NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

  • P. F Dowkontt

    Washington University, St. Louis

  • Thomas Hams

    NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

  • Martin H Israel

    Washington University, St. Louis

  • Jason Link

    NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

  • Richard A Mewaldt

    Caltech

  • John W W Mitchell

    NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

  • Ryan P Murphy

    Washington University, St. Louis

  • Brian F Rauch

    Washington University, St. Louis

  • Kenichi Sakai

    UMBC/NASA GSFC/CRESST II, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, CRESST/UMBC/GSFC

  • Makoto Sasaki

    UMCP/NASA GSFC/CRESST II, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, CRESST/UMCP/GSFC

  • Edward C Stone

    Caltech

  • C. J Waddington

    University of Minnesota

  • Nathan E Walsh

    Washington University, St. Louis

  • J. E Ward

    Washington University, St. Louis

  • Mark E Wiedenbeck

    Caltech

  • Wolfgang Zober

    Washington University, St. Louis