A study of cosmic ray secondaries induced by the Mir space station using AMS-01

摘要

The Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS-02) is a high energy particle physics experiment that will study cosmic rays in the ～100 MeV to 1 TeV range and will be installed on the International Space Station (ISS) for at least 3 years. A first version of AMS-02, AMS-01, flew aboard the space shuttle Discovery from June 2 to June 12, 1998, and collected 10~8 cosmic ray triggers. Part of the Mir space station was within the AMS-01 field of view during the four day Mir docking phase of this flight. We have reconstructed an image of this part of the Mir space station using secondary π~- and μ~- emissions from primary cosmic rays interacting with Mir. This is the first time this reconstruction was performed in AMS-01, and it is important for understanding potential backgrounds during the 3 year AMS-02 mission.