The propagation of high-energy cosmic rays is influenced by the time-varying heliospheric magnetic field embedded in the solar wind, and by the geomagnetic field. To penetrate through this geomagnetic field, they must have a rigidity that exceeds the geomagnetic cutoff rigidity for a given position on the earth. In the atmosphere, the primary cosmic rays interact with atmospheric nuclei, to form a cascade of secondary particles. Neutron monitors record these secondary cosmic rays, mainly the neutrons, with energies about a decade higher than detected by most spacecraft. Since neutron monitors are integral detectors, each with its own detection efficiency, energy spectra cannot readily be derived from their observations. One way to circumvent this is by conducting latitudinal surveys with mobile neutron monitors. Another way is to use the worldwide stationary neutron monitor network, but then the counting rates of these monitors must be normalised sufficiently accurate against one another. For this reason two portable calibration neutron monitors were built at the Potchefstroom campus of the North-West University and completed in 2002. To achieve sufficient calibration accuracy, several properties of the calibrator are investigated in this work. Effects such as atmospheric pressure variations, diurnal variations, short-term scintillations, and multiplicity, contribute to the fluctuations of the counting rate of a neutron monitor. Due to these effects, the coefficient of variation of the calibrator is determined to be -40% larger than the Poisson deviation. The energy response of the calibrator over the cutoff rigidity interval from the poles to the equator is investigated, with the result that it is almost 4% larger than that of a standard 3NM64 neutron monitor. It is also determined that not only the calibrator, but also the stationary NM64 and IGY neutron monitors, have fairly large instrumental temperature sensitivity, which must be accounted for in calibration procedures. Furthermore, the calibrator has a large sensitivity to the type of surface beneath it, influencing its counting rate by as much as 5%. This investigation is incomplete and requires further experimentation before the calibration of the stationary neutron monitors can start. When calibrations of a significant number of the worldwide neutron monitors are done, their intensity spectra as derived from differential response functions, will provide experimental data for modulation studies at rigidities above 1 GV. / Thesis (Ph.D. (Physics))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2006.

In the present study we aim to further our understanding of charged particle transport in a magnetized medium. To this end, we perform direct numerical simulations of particle transport in a turbulent magnetic field. From the particle trajectories we calculate diffusion and drift coefficients. In contrast to previous numerical simulations of this nature, we also consider a background magnetic field that contains a gradient perpendicular to the magnetic field direction. By using a non-uniform background magnetic field, we can investigate the simultaneous large scale drift due to the gradient in the background magnetic field and the diffusion due to the turbulence which is superimposed on this background magnetic field. Upon comparison with the simulated diffusion coefficients, the newly proposed weakly non-linear theory (WNLT) of Shalchi et al. (2004b) seems to be the most appropriate theory for the simultaneous description of parallel and perpendicular diffusion over a wide range of fluctuation amplitude and particle rigidity. As for the effect of large scale drift on perpendicular diffusion, we find that under conditions of small amplitude turbulence and/ or high particle rigidity the transport perpendicular to the background field can exhibit super-diffusive behaviour. Diffusive behaviour seems to be recovered for the cases when the turbulence amplitude is sufficiently large and/ or the particle rigidity is sufficiently small. We furthermore find that both the drift coefficient and the drift speed are reduced from their weak scattering counterparts in the presence of scattering, with the reduction becoming more pronounced with increasing turbulence amplitude. For the drift coefficient in particular, the reduction from its weak scattering counterpart behaves differently for the cases in which the background magnetic field is either uniform or non-uniform. For the former case the reduction is predominantly at small rigidities, while for the latter case the reduction is predominantly at large rigidities. The latter result might be of significance for heliospheric modulation models in which the background magnetic field is highly non-uniform. Finally, we use a two-dimensional steadystate cosmic ray modulation model to see how our improved understanding of the underlying transport processes influences the overall cosmic ray modulation in the heliosphere. We conclude that in the absence of a theory which connects large scale drift with small scale diffusion, any statements about the inadequacy of a two-dimensional steady-state modulation model might be premature. / Thesis (Ph.D. (Physics))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2006.

Thesis (M.Sc. (Physics))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2008.

Thesis (M.Sc. (Physics))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2008.

Thesis (Ph.D.) - University of Glasgow, 2008. / Ph.D. thesis submitted to the Department of Geographical and Earth Sciences, Faculty of Physical Sciences, University of Glasgow, 2008. Includes bibliographical references. Print version also available.

Academisch proefschrift--Amsterdam. / "Summary": p. 232-234. "Stellingen": [4] p. inserted. "Literatuurlijst": p. 235-240.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Chicago, Department of Physics, March 2003. / Includes bibliographical references. Also available on the Internet.

Dissertation (PhD)--University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, 2005.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2007. / Title from first page of PDF file. Includes bibliographical references (p. 307-319).

Le rayonnement cosmique galactique nucléaire est composé de noyaux de différentes espèces et ses sources sont encore mal identifiées. Cette méconnaissance est en partie due au caractère diffusif de la propagation des noyaux dans les champs magnétiques dont la composante turbulente supprime toute information sur la position des sources. Dans le rayonnement cosmique, on distingue les noyaux pri- maires qui sont principalement créés puis accélérés près de leurs sources des noyaux secondaires, uniquement créés par spallation des primaires plus lourds. La mesure des rapports d'abondance se- condaire sur primaire permet d'étudier les processus de propagation et donc de remonter aux méca- nisme sources du rayonnement cosmique. Cette étude apporte de plus une meilleure compréhension de l'environnement astrophysique galactique. Ce travail nécessite une très bonne connaissance des sections efficaces d'interaction du rayonnement cosmique dans le milieu interstellaire qui régissent la modification des abondances lors de la propagation. La première partie de cette thèse est dédiée à la contrainte des paramètres de propagation du rayonnement cosmique galactique via l'étude des abondances des éléments du quartet (1H,2H,3He,4He). À partir d'une nouvelle estimation des sections efficaces, une analyse statistique a permis de démontrer le potentiel de ces éléments pour contraindre les modèles de propagation du rayonnement cosmique. Ces contraintes restent cependant limitées par la précision statistique des mesures actuelles et justifient la mise en œuvre de nouvelles expériences. La deuxième partie de cette thèse est dédiée à la mesure des abondances avec l'expérience CREAM, une expérience embarquée en ballon. Cette mesure nécessite l'identification des éléments dans le dé- tecteur, le calcul des efficacités des sous-détecteurs, la déconvolution des effets dus aux erreurs sur la mesure de l'énergie ainsi que la prise en compte des effets atmosphériques. Cette analyse des données du 3ième vol de CREAM a permis une estimation des abondances des éléments bore, carbone, azote et oxygène. / The sources of Galactic cosmic-ray (GCR) nuclei are still poorly identified. This is partly due to the diffusive propagation (in turbulent magnetic fields) that erases all directional information about the measured fluxes. The species that are predominantly created and accelerated in the sources are denoted 'primary species'. Those mostly created by spallation of heavier primary species are denoted 'secondary species'. While primary fluxes give access to the source parameters, secondary-to-primary ratios trace propagation processes. Key quantities for such studies are the fragmentation cross sections on the interstellar gas and the measured fluxes and ratios. In the first part of this thesis, we provide new constraints on the Galactic propagation parameters from the quartet elements (1H,2H,3He,4He), relying on a new estimate of their cross sections and an evolved statistical analysis. The derived constraints are competitive with those obtained from the standard B/C ratio analysis. The results are however limited by the precision of current measurements and motivate the development of new experiments. The second part of this thesis is dedicated to the analysis of cosmic-ray fluxes measured with the CREAM balloon-borne experiment. We present the particle identification in the detector, the estimation of efficiencies for each sub-detector, the energy reconstruction, and the atmospheric correction. Applied to the 3rd flight data (CREAM-III), we provide new data points for the boron, carbon, nitrogen and oxygen elements above 100 GeV/n.