New Measurements of Fragmentation Cross Sections from ^(56)Fe and ^(60)Ni Beams at Energies Relevant to Galactic Cosmic-Ray Propagation

Models of cosmic-ray propagation in the Galaxy rely heavily on knowledge of the nuclear fragmentation cross sections which govern spallation of heavy nuclei in the interstellar medium. Interpretation of high-precision cosmic-ray composition data such as those from the ACE and Ulysses missions requires improved cross-section data. New measurements of partial fragmentation cross sections have been made with high statistical accuracy at the GSI heavy ion synchrotron (SIS) using ^(56)Fe beams at five energies between 300 and 1500 MeV/nucleon, and 60 Ni beams at 500 and 1000 MeV/nucleon, on a liquid hydrogen target. We report on progress in analyzing these data