Published 2019 | Version v1
Journal article

The CALorimetric Electron Telescope (CALET) on the International Space Station: Results from the First Two Years of Operation

  • 1. JEM Utilization Center, Human Spaceflight Technology Directorate, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (Japan)
  • 2. Waseda Research Institute for Science and Engineering, Waseda University (Japan)
  • 3. INFN Sezione di Florence (Italy)
  • 4. Department of Physics, University of Florence (Italy)
  • 5. Astroparticle Physics Laboratory, NASA/GSFC (United States)
  • 6. Department of Physics, University of Maryland (United States)
  • 7. Institute for Cosmic Ray Research, The University of Tokyo (Japan)
  • 8. INFN Sezione di Pisa (Italy)
  • 9. Department of Physical Sciences, Earth and Environment, University of Siena (Italy)

Description

The CALorimetric Electron Telescope (CALET) space experiment, which has been developed by Japan in collaboration with Italy and the United States, is a high-energy astroparticle physics mission on the International Space Station (ISS). The primary goals of the CALET mission include investigation of possible nearby sources of high-energy electrons, detailed study of galactic cosmic-ray acceleration and propagation, and search for dark matter signatures. With a long-term observation onboard the ISS, the CALET experiment measures the flux of cosmic-ray electrons (including positrons) up to 20 TeV, gamma-rays to 10 TeV, and nuclei up to 1,000 TeV based on its charge separation capability from Z = 1 to 40. Since the start of science operation in mid-October, 2015, a continuous observation has been maintained without any major interruptions. The number of triggered events over 10 GeV is nearly 20 million per month. By using the data obtained during the first two-years, here we present a summary of the CALET observations: 1) Electron+positron energy spectrum, 2) Nuclei analysis, 3) Gamma-ray observation with a characterization of the on-orbit performance. The search results for the electromagnetic counterparts of LIGO/Virgo gravitational wave events are also discussed.

Availability note (English)

Available from https://www.epj-conferences.org/articles/epjconf/pdf/2019/13/epjconf_isvhecri2018_13001.pdf; https://doaj.org/article/1184434529fa416fae2be78eab3dea93

Additional details

Publishing Information

Journal Title
EPJ. Web of Conferences
Journal Volume
208
Journal Page Range
vp.
ISSN
2100-014X

Conference

Title
30. International Symposium on Very High Energy Cosmic Ray Interactions
Acronym
ISVHECRI 2018
Dates
21-25 May 2018
Place
Nagoya (Japan)