The Trans-Iron Galactic Element Recorder for the International Space Station (TIGERISS)

Abstract

TIGERISS is an Ultra-Heavy Galactic Cosmic Ray (UHGCR) detector to be proposed to the NASA Astrophysics Pioneers Program capable of measuring the abundance relative to 26 Fe of every element from 5 B to 82 Pb. It is evolved from the LDB TIGER and SuperTIGER balloon instruments and the Heavy-Nuclei Explorer SMEX, and compared to its predecessors, TIGERISS will have a greatly improved capability to definitively identify UHGCR nuclei. This has been demonstrated in component accelerator tests at CERN, including silicon strip detectors in place of scintillators. The geometry factor for TIGERISS is estimated to be from 1.1 to 1.7 m 2 sr depending on the ISS attachment point, compared to 0.6 m 2 sr for TIGER. Within one-year TIGERISS would observe ∼27 56 Ba nuclei, a 20% statistically significant result comparable to the current SuperTIGER data set. Not requiring corrections for atmospheric interactions and scintillator saturation effects the TIGERISS results would be cleaner, and they would also make preliminary measurements to higher charges that will test models for cosmic-ray origins and acceleration. TIGERISS will measure UHGCR nuclei resulting from neutron-capture nucleosynthesis in heavy stars, supernovae, and binary neutron-star mergers and will probe the relative contribution of r-process elements to the cosmic rays.

Galactic cosmic rays: direct measurements, status and perspectives

“…6 at the highest atomic number values. Thus, the TIGERISS [33] project was formed to develop a space-rated version of the SuperTIGER instrument, intended to be deployed to the International Space Station (ISS) for a multiyear exposure. With a large geometry factor of 1.53 m 2 sr and long exposure on the ISS, it is anticipated that TIGERISS will be able to measure elements up to Pb, with the element populations previously observed by SuperTIGER all to be resolvable with much higher statistics.…”

Observational Challenges on the ISS: A Case Study with CALET

“…TIGERISS [5] is the latest addition to the TIGER family of instruments, which includes the highly successful balloon-borne TIGER and SuperTIGER experiments. The primary science goal of these missions is the measurement of the relative abundances of heavy (above ∼CNO) and ultra-heavy cosmic rays (above Fe).…”

Rapporteur Talk: Cosmic Ray Direct

“…It is planned to fly in 2022 already. Finally, the TIGERISS experiment [76] is an extension of the successful TIGER and SuperTIGER experiments and will be aimed at measuring all nuclei including the ultra-heavies up to Z=85. While still in the planning stages, it would deploy to the Japanese experimental module (JEM) on the ISS.…”