This award will enable Professors W.V. Jones and J.P. Wefel, of Louisiana State University, and co-workers at the University of Alabama in Huntsville, the University of Washington, and the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center to collaborate with Prof. Ogata, of the University of Tokyo, and colleagues at other Japanese institutions over a period of two years. They will investigate nuclear inter- actions, energy spectra, and chemical composition of cosmic rays using long-duration balloon flights of one to two weeks. In particular, detailed investigation will be made of the chemical composition of high density nuclear matter in these rays. The purpose of this research is to study cosmic rays with energies greater than those of any existing accelerators, in order to examine the properties of particles produced by nuclei under the extreme conditions of high temperature and compression that exist when they collide in the form of cosmic rays. New theories suggest that such collisions may lead to new states of nuclear matter, including pion condensation, abnormal nuclear matter, hot quark matter, and multi quark states. However, current accelerators do not possess enough energy to lead to such states; at present, cosmic rays at altitudes which may be reached by balloon are the only available sources of particles with the energies required. The information obtained should help clarify some basic physical and astrophysical processes and will therefore be of international importance. The Japanese researchers will prepare and analyze the nuclear emulsions to be used in the experiments, while the U.S. team will provide the balloons, helium gas, and launch facilities.
