Measurement of the Cosmic Ray Helium Energy Spectrum from 70 GeV to 80 TeV with the DAMPE Space Mission

The measurement of the energy spectrum of cosmic ray helium nuclei from 70 GeV to 80 TeV using 4.5 years of data recorded by the Dark Matter Particle Explorer (DAMPE) is reported in this work. A hardening of the spectrum is observed at an energy of about 1.3 TeV, similar to previous observations. In addition, a spectral softening at about 34 TeV is revealed for the first time with large statistics and well controlled systematic uncertainties, with an overall significance of 4.3σ. The DAMPE spectral measurements of both cosmic protons and helium nuclei suggest a particle charge dependent softening energy, although with current uncertainties a dependence on the number of nucleons cannot be ruled out.Received 5 January 2021Revised 25 March 2021Accepted 6 April 2021DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.126.201102© 2021 American Physical SocietyPhysics Subject Headings (PhySH)Research AreasCosmic ray & astroparticle detectorsCosmic ray composition & spectraParticle astrophysicsGravitation, Cosmology & Astrophysics