Measurement of the cosmic ray hadron spectrum up to 30 TeV at mountain altitude: the primary proton spectrum

117

The origin of the knee in the energy spectrum of cosmic rays is an outstanding problem in astroparticle physics. Numerous mechanisms have been proposed to explain the structure in the all-particle spectrum. In the article basic ideas of several models are summarized, including diffusive acceleration of cosmic rays in shock fronts, acceleration via cannonballs, leakage from the Galaxy, interactions with background particles in the interstellar medium, as well as new high-energy interactions in the atmosphere. The calculated energy spectra and mean logarithmic masses are compiled and compared to results from direct and indirect measurements.

Section: Experimental Results and The Poly-gonato Modelsupporting

confidence: 72%

Section: Experimental Results and The Poly-gonato Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

Models of the knee in the energy spectrum of cosmic rays

Hörandel

2004

117

“…Fig. 6 shows the calculated spectra of hadrons compared with the measurements [66,67,68,69,70,71,72,73,74,75]. The hadron fluxes are computed at several depths of the atmosphere in the range 60-1030 g cm −2 using the QGSJET II hadronic model, the ATIC-2 data, and the ZS cosmic ray spectrum in the region of higher energies (solid lines).…”

Section: Hadron Fluxesmentioning

confidence: 99%

High-energy cosmic-ray fluxes in the Earth atmosphere: Calculations vs experiments

Kochanov

Sinegovskaya

Sinegovsky

2008

A new calculation of the atmospheric fluxes of cosmic-ray hadrons and muons in the energy range 10-10 5 GeV has been performed for the set of hadron production models, EPOS 1.6, QGSJET II-03, SIBYLL 2.1, and others that are of interest to cosmic ray physicists. The fluxes of secondary cosmic rays at several levels in the atmosphere are computed using directly data of the ATIC-2, GAMMA experiments, and the model proposed recently by Zatsepin and Sokolskaya as well as the parameterization of the primary cosmic ray spectrum by Gaisser and Honda. The calculated energy spectra of the hadrons and muon flux as a function of zenith angle are compared with measurements as well as other calculations. The effect of uncertainties both in the primary cosmic ray flux and hadronic model predictions on the spectra of atmospheric hadrons and muons is considered.

“…In modern experiments a multiparametric approach, based on the simultaneous detection of some of the EAS observables and their correlation, is carried out to infer the features of the cosmic ray spectrum. In addition to the electromagnetic component, muons (as in the KASCADE [6], CASA-MIA [7], EAS-TOP [8] and ICE-TOP [9] experiments) or Cherenkov light (as in DICE [10] and ARGO/WFCTA [2] [11]) are the most common EAS observables used for this purpose. Some specific experimental arrangements, as in the Tibet AS experiment [12], which uses burst detectors to sample high energy photons, can be also implemented.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Detection of thermal neutrons with the PRISMA-YBJ array in extensive air showers selected by the ARGO-YBJ experiment

Bartoli

Bernardini

et al. 2016

Self Cite

We report on a measurement of thermal neutrons, generated by the hadronic component of extensive air showers (EAS), by means of a small array of EN-detectors developed for the PRISMA project (PRImary Spectrum Measurement Array), novel devices based on a compound alloy of ZnS(Ag) and 6 LiF. This array has been operated within the ARGO-YBJ experiment at the high altitude Cosmic Ray Observatory in Yangbajing (Tibet, 4300 m a.s.l.). Due to the tight correlation between the air shower hadrons and thermal neutrons, this technique can be envisaged as a simple way to estimate the number of high energy hadrons in EAS. Coincident events generated by primary cosmic rays of energies greater than 100 TeV have been selected and analyzed. The EN-detectors have been used to record simultaneously thermal neutrons and the air shower electromagnetic component. The density distributions of both components and the total number of thermal neutrons have been measured. The correlation of these data with the measurements carried out by ARGO-YBJ confirms the excellent performance of the EN-detector.2