2004/12/09 by J. J. Beatty, Amit Bhattacharyya, A. Bhattacharyya +19 · 11 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Dark Matter and Cosmic Phenomena #Particle Detector Development and Performance #Particle physics theoretical and experimental studies #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevlett.93.241102
published as Phys.Rev.Lett.93:241102,2004 · accepted for publication in PRL
arxiv created 2004/12/09 · openalex publication_date 2004/12/09 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
We present a new measurement of the cosmic-ray positron fraction at energies between 5 and 15 GeV with the balloon-borne HEAT-pbar instrument in the spring of 2000. The data presented here are compatible with our previous measurements, obtained with a different instrument. The combined data from the three HEAT flights indicate a small positron flux of nonstandard origin above 5 GeV. We compare the new measurement with earlier data obtained with the HEAT-e(+/-) instrument, during the opposite epoch of the solar cycle, and conclude that our measurements do not support predictions of charge sign dependent solar modulation of the positron abundance at 5 GeV.