Study of fossil tracks due to 50≤Z≤92 Galactic cosmic ray nuclei in meteoritic crystals: Results and perspectives

Abstract

A new approach to the problem of investigation of charge and energy spectra of ultra heavy Galactic cosmic ray nuclei, based on fossil track study of extraterrestrial olivine crystals has been developed. The results of an investigation of ultra heavy Galactic cosmic ray nuclei (Z=50–92) in meteoritic olive crystals are presented. The technique was based on calibration of olivine crystals with accelerated Xe, Au, Pb and U ions and well-controlled partial annealing of “fresh” and “fossil’ tracks. It allows us to determine the charge spectra and abundances of cosmic ray nuclei based on fossil track length study in meteoritic and Moon crystals. The comparative studies of the spectra of “fossil” tracks and tracks due to 208Pb and 238U nuclei have shown that the group of 210 μm “fossil” tracks, first observed in 1980 at JINR is due to ThU nuclei-products of recent r-process nucleosyntesis in our Galaxy. The method in principle allows one to resolve PtPb peaks in fossil tracks, to establish the upper limit of the abundance of Z>110 nuclei in the Galactic cosmic rays at the level ≤10 −3 to the abundance of actinide nuclei and to get information on the history of Z>50 cosmic ray nuclei in time interval up to 220 M.Y.