The Physics of the Knee in the Cosmic Ray Spectrum

نویسنده

  • K-H. Kampert
چکیده

Recent results from the KASCADE extensive air shower experiment are presented. After briefly reviewing the status of the experiment we report on tests of hadronic interaction models and emphasize the progress being made in understanding the properties and origin of the knee at eV. Analysing the muonand hadron trigger rates in the KASCADE calorimeter as well as the global properties of high energy hadrons in the shower core leads us to conclude that QGSJET still provides the best overall description of EAS data, being superior to DPMJET II-5 and NEXUS 2, for example. Performing high statistics CORSIKA simulations and applying sophisticated unfolding techniques to the electron and muon shower size distributions, we are able to successfully deconvolute the all-particle energy spectrum into energy spectra of 4 individual primary mass groups (p, He, C, Fe). Each of these preliminary energy distributions exhibits a knee like structure with a change of their knee positions suggesting a constant rigidity of -3 PV.

برای دانلود متن کامل این مقاله و بیش از 32 میلیون مقاله دیگر ابتدا ثبت نام کنید

ثبت نام

اگر عضو سایت هستید لطفا وارد حساب کاربری خود شوید

منابع مشابه

A study on the lateral distribution of Cherenkov light in extensive air showers

The dependence of the lateral distribution of Cherenkov light in simulated extensive air showers to the energy and the mass of the primary cosmic rays has been studied. It has been shown that a previous claim about mass independent proportionality of shower energy to the total Cherenkov photon number is not valid in energies below EEAS ~ 1014 eV. We have found that the core distance of the so c...

متن کامل

Geomagnetic Field Eect over Azimuth Anisotropy of Cosmic Rays via Study of Primary Particles

Geomagnetic field is a one of the candidates for creation of anisotropy in azimuth distribution of extensive air showers over the entered cosmic rays to the atmosphere. Here we present the question: Is there any azimuth anisotropy flux in the upper level of the atmosphere due to the geomagnetic field over the entered cosmic-rays? The obtained answer is: yes. This investigation showed an agreeme...

متن کامل

Cosmic Ray Spectrum “Knee”: A Herald of New Physics?

We argue that the knee in the cosmic ray spectrum at energies E > ∼ 10 15.5 eV is due to “new physics”, namely to a channel in the high energy ( > ∼ TeV in the CM) proton interactions hitherto unaccounted for in estimating the energies of the air shower cosmic rays. The new interaction transfers part of the primary particle’s energy to modes which do not trigger the experimental arragement (neu...

متن کامل

Galactic modulation of extragalactic cosmic rays: Possible origin of the knee in the cosmic ray spectrum

The existence of the spectral break around ∼ 3 × 10 eV in the cosmic ray spectrum (referred to as the ‘knee’) is one of the biggest questions in cosmic ray astrophysics. At the same time, the origin of cosmic rays above the knee energies (between 10 and 10 eV) is also still unsettled. In this paper, we investigate how the hypothetical extragalactic CRs after modulated by the galactic wind contr...

متن کامل

Cosmic Rays and Large Extra Dimensions

We have proposed that the cosmic ray spectrum “knee”, the steepening of the cosmic ray spectrum at energy E > ∼ 1015.5 eV, is due to “new physics”, namely new interactions at TeV cm energies which produce particles undetected by the experimental apparatus. In this letter we examine specifically the possibility that this interaction is low scale gravity. We consider that the graviton propagates,...

متن کامل

Unfolding X-ray spectrum in the diagnostic range using the Monte Carlo Code MCNP5

Introduction: Unfolding X-ray spectrum is a powerful tool for quality control of X-ray tubes. Generally, the acquisition of the X-ray spectrum in diagnostic radiology departments is complicated and difficult due to high photon flux. Measurement of x ray spectra using radiation detectors could not be performed accurately, because of the pulse pile up. Therefore, indirect methods...

متن کامل

ذخیره در منابع من


  با ذخیره ی این منبع در منابع من، دسترسی به آن را برای استفاده های بعدی آسان تر کنید

برای دانلود متن کامل این مقاله و بیش از 32 میلیون مقاله دیگر ابتدا ثبت نام کنید

ثبت نام

اگر عضو سایت هستید لطفا وارد حساب کاربری خود شوید

عنوان ژورنال:

دوره   شماره 

صفحات  -

تاریخ انتشار 2002