Flux of atmospheric muons: Comparison between AIRES simulations and CAPRICE98 data

We report on a comparison between the flux of muons in the atmosphere measured by the CAPRICE98 experiment and simulations performed with the air shower simulation program AIRES. To reduce systematic uncertainties we have used as input the primary fluxes of protons and helium nuclei also measured by the CAPRICE98 experiment. Heavy nuclei are also taken into account in the primary flux, and their contribution to the muon flux is discussed. The results of the simulations show a very good agreement with the experimental data, at all altitudes and for all muon momenta. With the exception of a few isolated points, the relative differences between measured data and simulations are smaller than 20 %; and in all cases compatible with zero within two standard deviations. The influence of the input cosmic ray flux on the results of the simulations is also discussed. This report includes also an extensive analysis of the characteristics of the simulated fluxes.Comment: Accepted for publication in Physical Review

Progresses in the validation of the FLUKA atmospheric neutrino flux calculations

The FLUKA calculation of the atmospheric neutrino fluxes have been cross-checked by comparing predictions on lepton fluxes in atmosphere to experimental data. The dependence of predicted neutrino fluxes on the shape and normalization of primary spectrum is also investigatedComment: Presented at TAUP2001 (Sep. 8-12, Assergi, Italy). 5 pages, 1 figur

Spatial Resolution of Double-Sided Silicon Microstrip Detectors for the PAMELA Apparatus

The PAMELA apparatus has been assembled and it is ready to be launched in a satellite mission to study mainly the antiparticle component of cosmic rays. In this paper the performances obtained for the silicon microstrip detectors used in the magnetic spectrometer are presented. This subdetector reconstructs the curvature of a charged particle in the magnetic field produced by a permanent magnet and consequently determines momentum and charge sign, thanks to a very good accuracy in the position measurements (better than 3 um in the bending coordinate). A complete simulation of the silicon microstrip detectors has been developed in order to investigate in great detail the sensor's characteristics. Simulated events have been then compared with data gathered from minimum ionizing particle (MIP) beams during the last years in order to tune free parameters of the simulation. Finally some either widely used or original position finding algorithms, designed for such kind of detectors, have been applied to events with different incidence angles. As a result of the analysis, a method of impact point reconstruction can be chosen, depending on both the particle's incidence angle and the cluster multiplicity, so as to maximize the capability of the spectrometer in antiparticle tagging.Comment: 28 pages, 18 figures, submitted to Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research

Impact of the spectral hardening of TeV cosmic rays on the prediction of the secondary positron flux

The rise in the cosmic-ray positron fraction measured by the PAMELA satellite is likely due to the presence of astrophysical sources of positrons, e.g. pulsars, on the kpc scale around the Earth. Nevertheless, assessing the properties of these sources from the positron data requires a good knowledge of the secondary positron component generated by the interaction of cosmic rays with the interstellar gas. In this paper, we investigate the impact of the spectral hardening in the cosmic-ray proton and helium fluxes recently reported by the ATIC2 and CREAM balloon experiments, on the predictions of the secondary positron flux. We show that the effect is not negligible, leading to an increase of the secondary positron flux by up to $\sim$60% above $\sim$100 GeV. We provide fitting formulae that allow a straightforward utilization of our results, which can help in deriving constraints on one's favorite primary positron source, e.g. pulsars or dark matter.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures (accepted in MNRAS 04-01-2011

Average Inhomogeneities in Milky Way SNII and The PAMELA Anomaly

A model is presented to estimate the fraction of Supernova Type-II events (SNII) occurring inside vs. outside a spiral arm for a given star formation episode. The probability distribution function (PDF) for this fraction is given for use in models similar to those of Shaviv et al. [13][11]. The calculated PDF for the SNII fraction, SNII_{in/total}, defined as the number of SNII inside a spiral arm divided by the total number of SNII from a star formation event, provides a constraint on the magnitude of supernova remnant (SNR) concentrations used in cosmic ray propagation models attempting to explain the PAMELA anomaly. Despite the concentration of star formation within spiral arms, this model predicts the majority of SNII events actually occur in inter-arm regions and calls into question the SNR concentration assumption of Shaviv et al.Comment: 8 pages, 2 figures, 2 table; accepted by Astroparticle Physic