The electric charge of interacting cosmic ray particles at sea level

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Abstract
The magnitude of the electric charge of sea level cosmic ray particles producing energy transfers greater than or approximately equal to 25 GeV in a 22.9 cm thick steel target have been measured. The charge distribution shows a peak at the electron charge and an apparent high charge tail. Spurious effects contributing to the high charge tail are knock-on electrons, and nuclear interactions in the proportional counter walls, which are used to measure the charge. The limit obtained on the flux of 4e/3, 5e/3 and 7e/3 quarks is less than 8.2*10-10 cm-2s-1sr-1.