Measurement of the cosmic ray proton spectrum from 40 GeV to 100 TeV with the DAMPE satellite

Authors: Q. An, R. Asfandiyarov, P. Azzarello, P. Bernardini, X. J. Bi, Mingsheng Cai, Jin Chang, D. Y. Chen, H. F. Chen, Ji‐Long Chen, Wei Chen, M. Y. Cui, T. S. Cui, Haoting Dai, A. D׳Amone, A. De Benedittis, I. De Mitri, Margherita Di Santo, Meng Ding, T. K. Dong, Yifan Dong, Z. X. Dong, Giacinto Donvito, David Droz, Jinglai Duan, K. K. Duan, D. D’Urso, R. R. Fan, Yi-Zhong Fan, F. Fang, C. Q. Feng, Lei Feng, P. Fusco, V. Gallo, Fengxia Gan, M. Gao, F. Gargano, Ke Gong, Yuanlin Gong, D. Y. Guo, Jian‐Hua Guo, Xiaolong Guo, Shuo Han, Yi-Ming Hu, G. S. Huang, Xiaoyuan Huang, Y. Y. Huang, M. Ionica, Weiman Jiang, Xuancheng Jin, Jie Kong, S. J. Lei, Shaoquan Li, W. L. Li, Xiang Li, Xiang Li, Ying Li, Yun-Feng Liang, Y. M. Liang, Neng-Hui Liao, C. M. Liu, H. Liu, J. Liu, S. B. Liu, Wei Liu, Yong Liu, F. Loparco, C. N. Luo, M. Ma, Peng-Xiong Ma, S. Y., T. Ma, X. Y., G. Marsella, M. N. Mazziotta, Delin Mo, X. Y. Niu, X. Pan, Wen-Xi Peng, X. Y. Peng, Rui Qiao, J. N. Rao, M. M. Salinas, Guojin Shang, W. H. Shen, Zhao-Qiang Shen, Zhongtao Shen, J. X. Song, H. Su, M. Su, Z. Sun, A. Surdo, Xueyi Teng, A. Tykhonov, S. Vitillo, C. Wang, H. Wang, Haiying Wang, Jianzhong Wang, L. G. Wang, R. Wang, S. Wang, Xianghua Wang, Xiaogang Wang, Y. F. Wang, Y. P. Wang, Yuan-Zhu Wang, Zhaomin Wang, Da-Ming Wei, Jun-Jie Wei, Yifeng Wei, Sicheng Wen, Di Wu, J. F. Wu, Libo Wu, S. Wu, X. Wu, Kai Xi, Zi-Qing Xia, He Xu, Z. H. Xu, Z. L. Xu, Z. Xu, Guofeng Xue, H. B. Yang, Peng Yang, Yifan Yang, Z. L. Yang, Huijun Yao, Y. H. Yu, Qiang Yuan, Chuan Yue, Jing-Jing Zang, Fei Zhang, J. Y. Zhang, J. Z. Zhang, P. F. Zhang, Shengxia Zhang, W. Z. Zhang, Yan Zhang, Yan Zhang, Y. L. Zhang, Y. P. Zhang, Y. Q. Zhang, Zhongshi Zhang, Z. Y. Zhang, Haisheng Zhao, Hengyu Zhao, Xiaofan Zhao, C. Y. Zhou, Yong Zhou, X. Zhu, Yan Zhu, S. Zimmer - Science Advances 2019 cited by 275

years of data recorded by the DArk Matter Particle Explorer (DAMPE). This is the first time that an experiment directly measures the cosmic ray protons up to ~100 TeV with high statistics. The measured spectrum confirms the spectral hardening at ~300 GeV found by previous experiments and reveals a softening at ~13.6 TeV, with the spectral index changing from ~2.60 to ~2.85. Our result suggests the existence of a new spectral feature of cosmic rays at energies lower than the so-called knee and sheds new light on the origin of Galactic cosmic rays.