No Title Entered
Abstract
A STUDY WAS MADE OF THE PRODUCTION OF NEUTRONS BY COSMIC RADIATION, NAND THEIR SUBSEQUENT HISTORY. TO THIS END A SERIES OF HIGH ALTITUDE BALLOON FLIGHTS WAS CARRIED OUT, AS WELL AS SOME SEA-LEVEL OBSERVATIONS AND ASSOCIATED THEORETICAL STUDIES. THE STUDY INVOLVED EXPERIMENTS AT VARIOUS LEVELS IN THE ATMOSPHERE. THE LEVEL AT WHICH HIGHEST NUMBERS OF NEUTRONS IS ENCOUNTERED IS AROUND 60,000 FT, THE EXACT LEVEL OF THE MAXIMUM DEPENDING ON LATITUDE. THE USE OF SKYHOOK BALLOONS FOR THE PROGRAM WAS THEREFORE INDICATED. THE ENERGY DISTRIBUTION OF THE NEUTRONS WAS MEASURED, BY FLYING COUNTERS WITH SHIELDS ARRANGED TO BE SENSITIVE TO NEUTRONS OF VARYING ENERGIES. THE TIME CONSTANCY OF THE NEUTRON PRODUCTION RATES WAS ALSO MEASURED. IT WAS FOUND THAT THE RATE OF NEUTRON PRODUCTION AT HIGH ELEVATIONS VARIES CONSIDERABLY, WITH THE STATE OF THE SUNSPOT CYCLE AND DEPENDING ON WHETHER THE EARTH IS INTERCEPTING SWARMS OF PARTICLES OF SOLAR ORIGIN. CORRELATIONS WERE NOTED WITH OTHER GEOPHYSICAL PHENOMENA SUCH AS GEOMAGNETISM, AURORAE, AND IONOSPHERIC RADIO WAVE PROPAGATION. FLUCTUATIONS IN ANY ONE OF THESE PARAMETERS OFTEN CORRELATED WITH CHANGES IN THE OTHERS
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jan 21, 1961
- Accession Number
- AD0248808
Entities
People
- Serge A. Korff
Organizations
- New York University