SpringerLink
Log in

Search for cosmic rays at Patsio in the Great Himalayan: a preliminary task

  • Published:
Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The present study is a preliminary step towards the detection of cosmic rays at higher altitude in the Great Himalayan range. Present work is an attempt to see the possibility of the presence of cosmic rays at a height of 3800 m from the sea level in the Great Himalayan range. An experiment was planned for the search of galactic cosmic rays (GCR) using CR39 track etch detectors at the Patsio DRDO (Defence Research and Development Organization) laboratory in the Great Himalayan range, India at a height of 3800 m from the sea level and 32° 45′ N, 77° 15′ E. CR39 detectors were etched in 8N NaOH solution + 3% ethyl alcohol at 70 °C to visualize the tracks produced in the exposed detectors under optical microscope. A detection threshold of CR39 detector down to Z = 18 (Z/β ~ 27) was obtained. After scanning, fine tracks were observed and it was concluded that that high Z cosmic rays may be present at an altitude of 3800 m from the sea level in the Great Himalayan range.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Subscribe and save

Springer+ Basic
EUR 32.99 /Month
  • Get 10 units per month
  • Download Article/Chapter or Ebook
  • 1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
  • Cancel anytime
Subscribe now

Buy Now

Price includes VAT (France)

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8
Fig. 9

Similar content being viewed by others

Data availability

There is no associated data in the manuscript. The authors shall abide Journal’s policies on (sharing) research data.

References

  1. Zeitlin C, Guetersloh SB, Heilbronn LH, Miller J (2006) Measurements of materials shielding properties with 1 GeV/nuc 56Fe. Nucl Instr Methods B 252:308–318

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Cucinotta FA, Alp M, Sulzman FM, Wang M (2014) Space radiation risks to the central nervous system. Life Sci Space Res 2:54–69

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Kiffer F, Boerma M, Allen A (2019) Behavioral effects of space radiation: a comprehensive review of animal studies. Life Sci Space Res 21:1–21

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Kokhan VS, Dobynde MI (2023) The effects of galactic cosmic rays on the central nervous system: from negative to unexpectedly positive effects that astronauts may encounter. Biology 12(3):400

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  5. Shrestha AK, Limbu S, Baral N, Magar M, Limbu A, Shrestha GK, Shah BR, Koirala RM (2023) An exposure to natural background radiation in eastern Nepal. Damak Campus J 11(1):1–7

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Cecchini S, Chiarusi T, Giacomelli G, Kumar A, Patrizii L (2003) The CAKE balloon experiment. In: 28th international cosmic ray conference, Japan, pp 1881–1884

  7. Curtis SB, Letaw JR (1989) Galactic cosmic rays and cell-hit frequencies outside the magnetosphere. Adv Space Res 9:293–298

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  8. Pálfalvi JK, Szabo J, Akatov Yu, Sajo-Bohus L, Eordogh I (2005) Cosmic ray studies on the ISS using SSNTD, BRADOS projects, 2001–2003. Radiat Meas 40:428–432

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Streibel T, Rocher H, Rusch G, Heinrich W, Reitz G (1996) HZE-Particles measured during IML-1 Mission. Adv Space Res 18:175–178

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Binns WR, Israel MH, Klarmann J, Scarlett WR, Waddington CJ, Stone EC (1981) The UH-nuclei cosmic ray detector on the third high energy astronomy observatory. Nucl Instrum Methods 185:415–426

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Link JT, Barbier LM, Binns WR, Christian ER, Cummings JR, de Nolfo GA, Dowkontt PF, Epstein JW, Hink PL, Israel MH, Mewaldt RA, Mitchell JW, Olevitch MA, Schindler SM, Stone EC, Streitmatter RE, Waddington CJ (2001) Measuring the abundances of ultra-heavy galactic cosmic rays through ultra long duration ballooning. In: Proceedings of 27th ICRC, Hamburg 2001, pp 2143–2146

  12. Weaver BA, Westphal AJ (2001) The extended analysis of the Trek detector. In: Proceedings of 27th ICRC, Hamburg 2001, pp 1720–1723

  13. Sparvoli R, Martucci M (2021) Advances in the research on cosmic rays and their impact on human activities. Appl Sci 12:3459–3461

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Bhattacharyya R, Dey S, Ghosh SK, Maulik A, Rana S, Syam D (2017) Study of radiation background at various high altitude locations in preparation for rare event search in cosmic rays. J Cosmol Astropart Phys 04:035

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Celinska AG, Krusinski A, Mazur J, Szewczyk K, Kozak K (2020) Radon—the element of risk. The impact of radon exposure on human health. Toxics 8:120

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Manzoor S (2007) Improvements and calibrations of nuclear track detectors for rare particle searches and fragmentation studies. Ph.D. Thesis, University of Bologna, Italy

  17. Kumar A, Gupta R, Jalota S, Giacomelli G, Patrizii L, Togo V (2012) Response of CR39 track etch detector to 10 A GeV Fe26+ ion beam and total charge changing cross section measurements. Nucl Instr Methods B 270:55–60

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  18. Gupta R, Kumar A, Giacomelli G, Patrizii L, Togo V (2012) Measurement of total and partial charge changing and charge pick-up cross-sections for 300 A MeV Fe26+ ion beam in Al with a new system of analysis. Nucl Instr Methods A 694:32–37

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  19. Gupta R, Kumar A (2013) Fragmentation cross-section of 600 A MeV Si14+ ions in thick polyethylene target. Eur Phys J A 49:98

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Gupta R, Kumar A (2013) Response of CR39 detector to 5A GeV Si14+ ions and measurement of total charge changing cross-section. Radiat Phys Chem 92:8–13

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  21. Gupta R, Kumar A, Giacomelli G, Patrizii L, Togo V (2012) Calibration of CR39 detectors with new system for Fe26+ ion beam and measurement of total charge changing cross-section in Al target. Radiat Meas 47:1023–1029

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  22. Durrani SA, Bull RK (1987) Solid state nuclear track detection, 1st edn. Pergamon Press, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  23. Balestra S, Cozzi M, Giacomelli G, Giacomelli R, Giorgini M, Kumar A, Mandrioli G, Manzoor S, Margiotta AR, Medinaceli E, Patrizii L, Popa V, Qureshi IE, Rana MA, Sirri G, Spurio M, Togo V, Valieri C (2007) Bulk etch rate measurements and calibrations of plastic nuclear track detectors. Nucl Instr Methods B 254:254–258

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  24. Fiechtner A, Boschung M, Wernli C (2007) Progress report of the CR-39 neutron personal monitoring service at PSI. Radiat Prot Dosim 125:237–240

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  25. Nadkarni VS, Samant SD (1996) Development of indigenous polyallyl diglycol carbonate (PADC) films for nuclear track detection. Radiat Meas 26:651–656

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  26. Chiarusi T (2003) Measurement of the primary cosmic ray composition with the CAKE experiment. Ph.D. Thesis, University of Bologna, Italy

  27. Hachaj T, Piekarczyk M (2023) The practice of detecting potential cosmic rays using CMOS cameras: hardware and algorithms. Sensors 23:4858

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

The authors are thankful to Dr. Prem Dutt and Dr. Kamal Kant, Scientists at SASE, DRDO for the exposures at Patsio in the Great Himalayan range.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Allied Sciences (Physics), Graphic Era Hill University, Dehradun, 248001, India

    Renu Gupta

  2. Department of Physics, National Institute of Technology, Kurukshetra, 136 119, India

    Ashavani Kumar

  3. Department of Physics, I.B. (P.G.) College, Panipat, 132103, India

    Chetna Narula

Authors
  1. Renu Gupta
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Ashavani Kumar
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Chetna Narula
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Renu Gupta.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest. The authors have no competing interests to declare that are relevant to the content of this manuscript.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Gupta, R., Kumar, A. & Narula, C. Search for cosmic rays at Patsio in the Great Himalayan: a preliminary task. J Radioanal Nucl Chem (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-024-09606-3

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-024-09606-3

Keywords

Search

Navigation