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UNIVERSITY OF BUCHAREST
FACULTY OF PHYSICS Guest
2024-11-23 18:28 |
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Conference: Bucharest University Faculty of Physics 2009 Meeting
Section: Atomic and Molecular Physics; Astrophysics
Title:
Reconstructing the Primary Energy Spectrum from the S(500) Measurements by KASCADE-Grande
Authors:
G. Toma, et al., KASCADE-Grande collaboration
Affiliation:
National Institute of Physics and Nuclear Engineering "Horia Hulubei", 7690 Bucharest, Romania
E-mail
tomagabriel@yahoo.com
Keywords:
KASCADE-Grande, EAS, primary energy spectrum
Abstract:
In the more general framework of cosmic ray studies, when investigating the properties of extensive air showers (EAS), a topic of general interest is finding the relation between the detected EAS observables and the energy of the primary particle interacting with the Earth`s atmosphere. We present a method to reconstruct the primary energy spectrum of cosmic rays from the experimentally recorded S(500) observable using the KASCADE-Grande detector array (installed in Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe, Germany, and driven by an international collaboration). Previous EAS investigations have shown that the charged particle density becomes independent of the primary mass at certain fixed distances from the shower core. This feature can be used as an estimator for the primary energy. The particular radial distance from the shower core where this effect takes place is a characteristic of the detector. For the KASCADE-Grande experiment it was shown to be around 500 m, hence a notation S(500) is used for the charged particle density at this specific distance. Extensive simulation studies have shown that S(500) is mapping the primary energy. The constant intensity cut (CIC) method is applied to evaluate and later correct the attenuation of the S(500) observable with the zenith angle, leading to the all event S(500) spectrum. A calibration of S(500) values with the primary energy has been worked out by simulations and can be used for conversion, providing the possibility to obtain the primary energy spectrum (in the energy range accessible to the KASCADE - Grande array, 10^16-10^18 eV). The systematic uncertainties induced by different factors are considered.
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