30TH INTERNATIONAL COSMIC RAY CONFERENCE Propagation of High-Energy Cosmic Rays through the Galaxy: Discussion and In- terpretation of TRACER Results

Abstract: The long-duration balloon flights of TRACER provide new measurements of the intensities and energy spectra of the arriving cosmic-ray nuclei with 5 ≤ Z ≤ 26 at high energies. In order to determine the particle composition and energy spectra at the cosmic-ray sources, changes occurring during the interstellar propagation of cosmic rays must be known. We use a simple propagation model with energydependent pathlength and derive constraints on the propagation parameters from a self-consistent fit to the measured energy spectra. We use the model to obtain the relative abundances of the cosmic ray nuclei at the acceleration site.