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New measurement of the cosmic-ray positron fraction from 5 to 15 GeV
J J Beatty1, A Bhattacharyya, C Bower
1Department of Physics, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA.
Abstract:
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.
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