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Method and Results of Direct Measurement of the Interstellar Neutral Helium Abundance and Isotopic Composition

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Abstract

One of the important astrophysical problems is the determination of the abundance of helium isotopes 3He and 4He in different regions of the Universe, because this abundance can reflect its history by pointing to the intensity of various possible processes of the creation and decay of light elements. This paper describes the method and results of the determination (for the first time performed by a direct method) of the helium isotopic abundance in the local interstellar medium surrounding the Solar system. The experiment was carried out on the manned Mir space station by long-term space exposure of samples of metal foil with their subsequent recovery to the Earth and detailed laboratory mass-spectrometric analysis. As a result, we succeeded in obtaining an estimation of the 4He concentration (about 7.5 × 10–3 cm–3) and the isotopic ratio 3He/4He (about1.7 × 10–4) for the local interstellar medium.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Space Research Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, Profsoyuznaya ul. 84/32, Moscow, 117997, Russia

    G. N. Zastenker, Yu. N. Agafonov, N. A. Eismont, A. V. Prudkoglyad, V. V. Khrapchenkov, L. G. Gevorkov, S. A. Burguchev & A. V. Kochetkov

  2. Physikalisches Institut, Bern University, Bern, Switzerland

    E. Salerno, F. Buehler, P. Bochsler, J. Fisher, M. Bassi, G. Busemann & O. Eugster

Authors
  1. G. N. Zastenker
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  2. Yu. N. Agafonov
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  3. N. A. Eismont
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  4. A. V. Prudkoglyad
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  5. V. V. Khrapchenkov
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  6. L. G. Gevorkov
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  7. S. A. Burguchev
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  8. A. V. Kochetkov
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  9. E. Salerno
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  10. F. Buehler
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  11. P. Bochsler
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  12. J. Fisher
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  13. M. Bassi
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  14. G. Busemann
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  15. O. Eugster
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Zastenker, G.N., Agafonov, Y.N., Eismont, N.A. et al. Method and Results of Direct Measurement of the Interstellar Neutral Helium Abundance and Isotopic Composition. Cosmic Research 40, 347–357 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1019894311608

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