Low-energy beam test results of a calorimeter prototype for the CREAM experiment

CREAM (Cosmic Ray Energetics And Mass) is an experiment under construction for a direct measurement of high energy cosmic rays (1012 to > 5 · 1014 eV) over the elemental range from proton to iron. The first flight of CREAM is intended to demonstrate the new Ultra Long Duration Balloon (ULDB) capability under development by NASA. A prototype of a tungsten-SciFi imaging calorimeter designed for CREAM has been tested at CERN with electron beam energies ranging from 5 to 100 GeV. Although the calorimeter module is optimized for cosmic-ray spectral measurements in the multi-TeV region, the response of its electromagnetic section to low energy electrons has been studied with this dedicated prototype. Results show good agreement with the expected behaviour in terms of linearity and energy resolution.