Understand
In this paper, we present the analysis and results of a direct measurement of the cosmic-ray proton spectrum with the CALET instrument onboard the International Space Station, including the detailed assessment of systematic uncertainties.
- The observation period used in this analysis is from October 13, 2015 to August 31, 2018 (1054 days).
- We have achieved the very wide energy range necessary to carry out measurements of the spectrum from 50 GeV to 10 TeV covering, for the first time in space, with a single instrument the whole energy interval previously investigated in most cases in separate subranges by magnetic spectrometers (BESS-TeV, PAMELA, and AMS-02) and calorimetric instruments (ATIC, CREAM, and NUCLEON).
- The observed spectrum is consistent with AMS-02 but extends to nearly an order of magnitude higher energy, showing a very smooth transition of the power-law spectral index from -2.81 +- 0.03 (50--500 GeV) neglecting solar modulation effects (or -2.87 +- 0.06 including solar modulation effects in the lower energy region) to -2.56 +- 0.04 (1--10 TeV), thereby confirming the existence of spectral hardening and providing evidence of a deviation from a single power law by more than 3 sigma.