Bess and its future prospect for polar long duration flights

A. Yamamoto*, K. Abe, K. Anraku, Y. Asaoka, M. Fujikawa, H. Fuke, S. Haino, M. Imori, K. Izumi, T. Maeno, Y. Makida, N. Matsui, H. Matsumoto, H. Matsunaga, F. B. McDonald, J. Mitchell, T. Mitsui, A. Moiseev, M. Motoki, J. NishimuraM. Nozaki, S. Orito, J. F. Ormes, D. Righter, T. Saeki, T. Sanuki, M. Sasaki, E. S. Seo, Y. Shikaze, T. Sonoda, R. Streitmatter, J. Suzuki, K. Tanaka, K. Tanizaki, I. Ueda, J. Z. Wang, N. Yajima, T. Yamagami, Y. Yamamoto, H. Yamaoka, K. Yamato, T. Yoshida, K. Yoshimura

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

33 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The Balloon-borne Experiment with a Superconducting Spectrometer, BESS, aims to study elementary particle/antiparticle phenomena in the early history of the Universe. The instrument has a unique feature of a thin superconducting solenoid magnet enabling a large geometrical acceptance with a horizontally cylindrical configuration. Seven balloon flights have been successfully carried out since 1993. More then 10 3 comic-ray antiproton have been unambiguously detected, and the energy spectrum has been measured with the characteristic peak at 2 GeV. The search for cosmic-ray antihelium brought the upper-limit of the antihelium/helium ratio down to < 10 -6 . To extend the highly sensitive measurements, we are planning polar long duration flights in Antarctica focusing on the very low energy antiproton spectrum towards the solar-minimum in the next decade.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1253-1262
Number of pages10
JournalAdvances in Space Research
Volume30
Issue number5
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2002
Externally publishedYes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Aerospace Engineering
  • Astronomy and Astrophysics
  • Geophysics
  • Atmospheric Science
  • Space and Planetary Science
  • Earth and Planetary Sciences(all)

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