On an Attempt to Deflect Magnetically the Cosmic-Ray Corpuscles

Abstract

This paper reports the results of an experimental attempt magnetically to deviate the high-energy corpuscles associated with the cosmic radiation. With a magnetic analyser involving the use of Geiger-M\"uller electron counters and the magnetic field in the interior of a magnetized iron bar, it is found that no deviation of the corpuscles which cause the simultaneous discharges of the counters occurs. Calculation of the sensitivity indicates that an observable deviation would have been produced if the corpuscles were electrons of energy 2\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}${10}^{9}$ $e$-volts or less or portons of energy ${10}^{9}$ $e$-volts or less.The difficulties involved in explaining this result are discussed and various possible interpretations are presented.