What nuclear reactions are attributed to cosmic rays?

[giann_tee]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosmic_ray

I have a little bit of trouble writing an essay that relies on
background knowledge of galactic cosmic rays. I found in textbooks
solid writing about the history of discovery and composition, etc.
I can not find simple exemplary nuclear reactions that happen in atmosphere or on Earth in general. Common carbon dating technique is
based on one such reaction. That information is in the above link (scroll
half way down). Another reaction that is there seems to be incomplete. Do you know any reactions that I can quote?

 

[Norman]

The cosmic ray spectrum consists of all heavy ions up to Iron. So from Hydrogen to Iron, there is a fairly diffuse background of radiation that has a relatively small flux.

So, these fully ionized cosmic rays (they are only the positively charge nucleus, their electrons have been stripped away) can interact through many mechanisms (nuclear and electromagnetic) with the molecules in the atmosphere. So there are many, many different reactions that can occur. Much too many to explicitly list. I would recommend taking a look around the net for "atmospheric cosmic ray showers" or "electromagnetic cascades" or "cosmic ray air shower" or other variations.

 

[Astronuc]

There are a number of reactions -

http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/astro/cosmic.html


Certainly charged nuclei (and protons), will ionize atoms, and occasionally will collide with or scatter with the nuclei of the gas molecules in the atmosphere.

With collisions, there is the posibility of particle creation, much like one obtains in high energy particle accelerator or collider. In this case, matter-antimatter pairs are created. At some point, the antimatter finds its matter particle and there is an annihilation reactions.

Another consequence of the particle collision is spallation - where nucleons, or groups of nucleons, are knocked out of the nucleus.

This might be of interest -
Ultrahigh Energy Cosmic Rays: The state of the art before the Auger Observatory
Authors: Luis Anchordoqui, Thomas Paul, Stephen Reucroft, John Swain
http://arxiv.org/abs/hep-ph/0206072


Here is a paper describing radiation in space.

NASA Conference Publication 3360 · December 1997
Shielding Strategies for Human Space Exploration
http://www-d0.fnal.gov/~diehl/Public/snap/meetings/NASA-97-cp3360.pdf
Figure 1 shows tracks of various nuclei made in emulsions.
Chapter 2 has some information on radiation and models.

Edited by
J. W. Wilson
Langley Research Center · Hampton, Virginia

J. Miller
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory · Berkeley, California

A. Konradi
Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center · Houston, Texas

F. A. Cucinotta
Langley Research Center · Hampton, Virginia

Proceedings of a workshop sponsored by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and held at Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center, Houston, Texas
December 6-8, 1995
459 pages

 

[giann_tee]

Yes yes WHERE are my professors! My former teacher of nuclear physics is nice man but he's not available, and these other's behave as if they don't believe in those "rays".
:-))

I looked through so many articles and textbooks I had so there's plenty of content in general, but not the reactions probably because they are numerous. On this link there is a list of "cosmogenic radionuclides":
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosmogenic_isotope#Natural
they quoted this web site:
http://www.icsu-scope.org/downloadpubs/scope50/chapter01.html
and the keyword for searching might be "nuclear chemistry".

Cosmic rays appear to be highly important for discovery of particles and setting ground for nuclear physics, space climate, tests of relativity, galactic astronomy, cosmology - therefore I believe this topic should be rich in content.

 

[Astronuc]

Well, that Wikipedia article answers some of your question - it shows the (p,n) reaction, the (n,p) reaction, and mentions spallation.

Then there is particle production, which has a high threshold energy (~ 6 GeV, due to conservation of energy and momentum) in which p collides with p and produces a $p, \bar{p}$ pair. The anti-p subsequently annihiates with another p and produces a shower of pions, which decay to muons or gammas (depending on charge), and muons subsequently decay to electrons, neutrinos and anti-neutrinos.

See also - http://www2.slac.stanford.edu/VVC/cosmicrays/

http://www2.slac.stanford.edu/VVC/cosmic_rays.html

Have fun!

 

[giann_tee]

Cosmogenic 7Be is a natural tracer not altered by anthropogenic activities. Once produced, 7Be atoms are almost immediately absorbed onto aerosol particles. Aerosol particles are the most important reservoir of air pollutants,7Be can be used in tracking their atmospheric paths and fall-out.

14N + p -> 7Be + 2 x 4He
14N + n -> 7Be + 8Li

16O + p -> 7Be + 10B
16O + p -> 7Be + 7Li + 3He
16O + n -> 7Be + 10Be
16O + n -> 7Be + 6He + 4He

Beryllium can be collected from the plants, soil or roof tops. It is produced mostly in the summer for some reason, allegedly thinning of tropopause. I don't know what that is, but I wondered if there is a link to noctilucent clouds.