- Physical Review Journals
All JournalsPhysics Magazine
All JournalsPhysics Magazine
Access Provided by Xinjiang University

Physical Review Journals Archive

Export citation

Export citation

Choose format for download:

Download Citation
  • Access by Xinjiang University

Intensity and Rate of Production of Mesotrons in the Stratosphere

Marcel Schein, William P. Jesse, and E. O. Wollan

  • The University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois

PDF

Phys. Rev. 57, 847 – Published 15 May, 1940

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRev.57.847

Abstract

Two free balloon flights have been made with a coincidence-counter apparatus designed to record the vertical mesotron intensity and also the number of mesotrons produced in a 2-cm lead block by a non-ionizing radiation. The results show that the mesotron intensity at first increases with elevation and reaches a maximum at a pressure at about 6.6 cm Hg where the intensity is about 11 times that at sea level. Above this altitude the intensity falls off until at the lowest pressure reached (3.6 cm Hg) the intensity has decreased to about 8 times the sea-level value. Between p=8 cm and 50 cm Hg the mesotron intensity decreases almost exponentially with the mass of air traversed from which we obtain a constant "absorption coefficient" μ=1.2×10−3 g−1 cm−2 for the mesotrons in this range. The production of mesotrons in the lead block becomes noticeable at about 35 cm pressure and increases with altitude at about the same rate as does the soft component. This is evidence that the photons are the agents responsible for a large part of the observed creation in the lead and on this assumption we calculate a cross section for the creation process σph=0.7×10−27 cm−2 per nuclear particle in lead.

View figure in article

References (30)

  1. B. Rossi, Zeits. f. Physik 82, 151 (1933)
  2. D. S. Hsiung, Phys. Rev. 46, 653 (1934)
  3. F. Shonka, Phys. Rev. 55, 24 (1939)
  4. M. Schein and V. C. Wilson, Rev. Mod. Phys. 11, 292 (1939)

  5. Omitted endnote

  6. H. V. Neher and W. W. Harper, Phys. Rev. 49, 940 (1936)
  7. Humphreys' Physics of the Air (McGraw-Hill, 1929)

  8. Omitted endnote

  9. B. Rossi, H. Van N. Hilberry and J. B. Hoag, Phys. Rev. 56, 837 (1939)
  10. V. C. Wilson, Phys. Rev. 53, 337 (1938)
  11. A. H. Compton and R. J. Stephenson, Phys. Rev. 45, 441 (1934)

  12. Omitted endnote

  13. P. Auger and collaborators, Rev. Mod. Phys. 11, 288 (1939)
  14. T. H. Johnson and J. G. Barry, Phys. Rev. 57, 245 (1940)
  15. M. Schein, W. P. Jesse and E. O. Wollan, Phys. Rev. 56, 613 (1939)
  16. E. G. Dymond, Nature 144, 782 (1939)
  17. I. S. Bowen, R. A. Millikan and H. V. Neher, Phys. Rev. 53, 855 (1938) H. Carmicheal and E. G. Dymond, Proc. Roy. Soc. A171, 321 (1939)
  18. G. Pfotzer, Zeits. f. Physik 102, 23 (1936)
  19. E. Regener and A. Ehmert, Zeits. f. Physik 111, 501 (1939)
  20. T. H. Johnson, Phys. Rev. 47, 318 (1935)
  21. L. W. Nordheim and M. H. Hebb, Phys. Rev. 56, 494 (1939)
  22. H. T. Bhabha, Proc. Roy. Soc. A164, 257 (1938) W. Heitler, A166, 529 (1938) M. Kobayasi and T. Okayama, Proc. Phys. Math. Soc. Japan 21, 1 (1939)

  23. Omitted endnote

  24. T. H. Johnson, Rev. Mod. Phys. 11, 208 (1939)
  25. L. W. Nordheim, Phys. Rev. 56, 502 (1939)
  26. I. S. Bowen, R. A. Millikan and H. V. Neher, Phys. Rev. 53, 217 (1938)
  27. H. Jones, Rev. Mod. Phys. 11, 235 (1939)

  28. Omitted endnote

  29. J. F. Carlson and J. R. Oppenheimer, Phys. Rev. 50, 493 (1937) R. Serber, 54, 311 (1938)
  30. G. Lemaître and M. S. Vallarta, Phys. Rev. 50, 493 (1936)

Outline

Information

Phys. Rev. 57, 847– Published 15 May, 1940
  • Received 23 February 1940

© 1940 American Physical Society

Sign In to Your Journals Account

Filter

Filter

Article Lookup

Enter a citation