Properties of Heavy Secondary Fluorine Cosmic Rays: Results from the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer

Abstract

Precise knowledge of the charge and rigidity dependence of the secondary cosmic ray fluxes and the secondary-to-primary flux ratios is essential in the understanding of cosmic ray propagation. We report the properties of heavy secondary cosmic ray fluorine F in the rigidity R range 2.15 GV to 2.9 TV based on 0.29 million events collected by the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer experiment on the International Space Station. The fluorine spectrum deviates from a single power law above 200 GV. The heavier secondary-to-primary F/Si flux ratio rigidity dependence is distinctly different from the lighter B/O (or B/C) rigidity dependence. In particular, above 10 GV, the F/Si/B/O ratio can be described by a power law R-delta with delta = 0.052 +/- 0.007. This shows that the propagation properties of heavy cosmic rays, from F to Si, are different from those of light cosmic rays, from He to O, and that the secondary cosmic rays have two classes.