Reentrant albedo proton fluxes measured by the PAMELA experiment

Adriani, O.; Barbarino, G. C.; Bazilevskaya, G. A.; Bellotti, R.; Boezio, M.; Bogomolov, E. A.; Bongi, M.; Bonvicini, V.; Bottai, S.; Bruno, A.; Cafagna, F.; Campana, D.; Carlson, P.; Casolino, M.; Castellini, G.; De Donato, C.; De Santis, C.; De Simone, N.; Di Felice, V.; Formato, V.; Galper, A. M.; Karelin, A. V.; Koldashov, S. V.; Koldobskiy, S.; Krutkov, S. Y.; Kvashnin, A. N.; Leonov, A.; Malakhov, V.; Marcelli, L.; Martucci, M.; Mayorov, A. G.; Menn, W.; Mergé, M.; Mikhailov, V. V.; Mocchiutti, E.; Monaco, A.; Mori, N.; Munini, Riccardo; Osteria, G.; Palma, F.; Panico, B.; Papini, P.; Pearce, M.; Picozza, P.; Ricci, M.; Ricciarini, S. B.; Sarkar, R.; Scotti, V.; Simon, M.; Sparvoli, R.; Spillantini, P.; Stozhkov, Y. I.; Vacchi, A.; Vannuccini, E.; Vasilyev, G. I.; Voronov, S. A.; Yurkin, Y. T.; Zampa, G.; Zampa, N.

doi:10.1002/2015JA021019

We present a precise measurement of downward going albedo proton fluxes for kinetic energy above ∼70 MeV performed by the Payload for Antimatter Matter Exploration and Light-nuclei Astrophysics (PAMELA) experiment at an altitude between 350 and 610 km. On the basis of a trajectory tracing simulation, the analyzed protons were classified into quasi-trapped, concentrating in the magnetic equatorial region, and untrapped spreading over all latitudes, including both short-lived (precipitating) and long-lived (pseudotrapped) components. In addition, features of the penumbra region around the geomagnetic cutoff were investigated in detail. PAMELA results significantly improve the characterization of the high-energy albedo proton populations at low-Earth orbits.