AMS-02

First Result from the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer on the International Space Station:
Precision Measurement of the Positron Fraction in Primary Cosmic Rays of 0.5–350 GeV
By AMS Collaboration (M. Aguilar et al.). Physical Review Letters PRL 110, 141102 (2013)

Draft Press Release (D3) - 29 March 2013, Geneva, Switzerland - First Result from the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS) Experiment (Not a scientific paper)

AMS-01

AMS-01 is the precursor experiment which flew on the shuttle Discovery on the STS-91 mission, from 2nd to 12th of June 1998. An historical document, the AMS-01 brochure, describes it in detail.

The AMS-01 experiment was built around a permanent cylindrical magnet built with 6,000 small NdFeB blocks. It has been the first large magnetic spectrometer ever operated in space.

The subdetectors installed on AMS-01 were:

• Silicon Detector, to measure the sign of the charge and the momentum of the charged particles
• Time of Flight, to measure the velocity of the charged particles and to provide the trigger of the experiment
• An Anticounter system, to veto particles traversing the spectrometer but crossing the magnet walls
• A threshold Cerenkov detector, to separate low velocity from high velocity particles

During the 10 days mission, AMS-01 collected nearly 80 M of triggers, which were analyzed off line after the return to ground. The results of the analysis of these data where published on a series of highly cited papers, including a Physics Report:

1. The Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS) on the International Space Station: Part I – results from the test flight on the space shuttle. By AMS Collaboration (J. Alcaraz et al.). Physics Reports 366: 331–405, 2002. 74pp.
2. Search for anti-helium in cosmic rays. By AMS Collaboration (J. Alcaraz et al.). Feb 2000. 18pp. Phys.Lett.B 461:387-396, 1999.
3. Helium in near Earth orbit. By AMS Collaboration (J. Alcaraz et al.). Nov 2000. 10pp. Phys.Lett.B 494:193-202, 2000. 9pp.
4. Cosmic protons. By AMS Collaboration (J. Alcaraz et al.). 2000. 8pp. Phys.Lett.B 490:27-35, 2000.
5. Leptons in near earth orbit. By AMS Collaboration (J. Alcaraz et al.). 2000. 13pp. Phys.Lett.B 484:10-22, 2000, Erratum-ibid.B495:440, 2000.
6. Protons in near earth orbit. By AMS Collaboration (J. Alcaraz et al.). Feb 2000. 19pp. Phys.Lett.B 472:215-226, 2000.
7. A Study of cosmic ray secondaries induced by the Mir space station using AMS-01. By AMS-01 Collaboration (M. Aguilar et al.). Jun 2004, 18pp. Nucl.Instrum.Meth.B234:321-332, 2005.
8. Cosmic-ray positron fraction measurement from 1 to 30-GeV with AMS-01. By AMS-01 Collaboration (M. Aguilar et al.). Jun 2004, 18pp. Phys.Lett.B646:145-154, 2007.

Other published papers on STS91 data analysis: 

1. Atmospheric production of energetic protons, electrons and positrons observed in near earth orbit. P. Zuccon et al., 2003, 14pp. Astropart.Phys.20:221-234,2003.
2. Leptons with E > 200-MeV trapped in the earth’s radiation belts. E. Fiandrini et al., 2002. 7pp. J. of Geo., Res.107,A6 10, 2002.
3. Leptons with E > 200 MeV trapped near the South Atlantic Anomaly. E. Fiandrini et al., 2003, 11pp. J. of Geo., Res.108, A11 1402, 2003.
4. Protons with kinetic Energy E > 70 MeV trapped in the earth’s radiation belts. E. Fiandrini et al., 2004, 12pp. J. of Geo., Res.109, A10214, 2004.