Anomalous Cosmic Rays and their Ionization States

Ionization states of 16 individual anomalous cosmic ray events have been determined in the anuradha cosmic ray experiment conducted onboard Spacelab-3. The geomagnetic field was used as a rigidity filter for the energetic charged particles, and the upper limit on their ionization states is obtained by using the relation Z <= M.p.c/R/sub c/. Out of 16 events, 11 are found to be singly ionized and the other five events are consistent with their being in singly ionized states. The singly ionized nature of the anomalous cosmic ray particles suggests neutrals in the local interstellar space as their source