THE COSMIC-RAY PROTON AND HELIUM SPECTRA BETWEEN 0.4 AND 200 GV

We report on the hydrogen nuclei (protons and deuterons) spectrum from 0.15 to 200 GeV and on the helium nuclei spectrum over the energy range from 0.2 to 100 GeV nucleon~1 at the top of the atmo- sphere measured by the balloon-borne experiment Cosmic Antiparticle Ring-Imaging Cerenkov Experi- ment (CAPRICE), which was —own from Lynn Lake, Manitoba, Canada, on 1994 August 8¨9. We also report on the proton spectrum over the energy range from 0.15 to 4.2 GeV. The experiment used the NMSU-WiZard/CAPRICE balloon-borne magnet spectrometer equipped with a solid radiator Ring- Imaging Cerenkov (RICH) detector and a silicon-tungsten calorimeter for particle identi—cation. This was the —rst time a RICH was used together with an imaging calorimeter in a balloon-borne experiment. These detectors allowed for clear particle identi—cation, as well as excellent control of the detector effi- ciencies. The data were collected during 18 hr at a residual mean atmospheric depth of 3.9 g cm~2. With this apparatus 516,463 hydrogen and 32,457 helium nuclei were identi—ed in the rigidity range 0.4 to 200 GV and 1.2 to 200 GV, respectively. The observed energy spectrum at the top of the atmosphere can be represented by (1.1 ^ 0.1) ) 104 E~2.73B0.06 particles (m2 GeV sr s)~1 for hydrogen (E in GeV) between 20 and 200 GeV and (4.3 ^ 0.9) ) 102 E~2.65B0.07 particles (m2 GeV nucleon~1 sr s)~1 for helium nuclei (E in GeV nucleon~1) between 10 and 100 GeV nucleon~1. These spectra are in good agreement with other recent measurements above 10 GeV. The observed spectra —atten below 10 GeV due to solar modulation and are consistent with earlier measurements when solar modulation is taken into account. Between 5 and 200 GV the hydrogen to helium ratio as a function of rigidity was found to be approx- imately constant at 6.1 ^ 0.1. Subject headings: cosmic rayselementary particles