Observation of solar neutrons by using the very sensitive cosmic ray detector

我们用中子来研究高能离子在太阳表面的加速机制，因为它们不受行星际磁场的影响。这些中子是由加速离子和太阳大气相互作用产生的。在这笔赠款期间，我们成功地操作了非常灵敏的跟踪探测器，该探测器曾在美国加速器实验中使用，位于墨西哥海拔4600米的内格拉山脉。探测器的体积为3mx3mx1.7米，比目前的太阳中子探测器灵敏得多。此外，我们还可以获得入射中子的能量信息，以及识别入射粒子。关于中子能量的信息对于理解有效的粒子如何在太阳表面加速是必不可少的，这一点到目前为止还没有被理解。这种新的探测器也可用于监测银河系宇宙射线的强度。

We use neutrons to study the acceleration mechanism of high energy ions at the solar surface because they are not affected by the interplanetary magnetic field. These neutrons are produced by the interaction between accelerated ions and the solar atmosphere. During this grant, we succeded in operating the very sensitive tracking detector which had been used at the accelerator experiment in USA, on Sierra Negra, 4,600m above sea level, in Mexico. The volume of the detector is 3mx3mx1.7m and much more sensitive than the current solar neutron detectors. Moreover we can get the information on the energy of incident neutrons as well as identifying incident particles. The information on the energy of neutron is essential to understand how efficient particles are accelerated at the solar surface, which has not been understood so far. This new detector is also available for monitoring the intensity of galactic cosmic rays.