Comparison of Hadronic Interaction Models at Auger Energies

The three hadronic interaction models DPMJET 2.55, QGSJET 01, and SIBYLL 2.1, implemented in the air shower simulation program CORSIKA, are compared in the energy range of interest for the Pierre Auger experiment. The model dependence of relevant quantities in individual hadronic interactions and air showers is investigated.Comment: Contribution to XII Int. Symp. on Very High Energy Cosmic Ray Interactions, 4 pages, 8 figure

Monte Carlo simulations of air showers in atmospheric electric fields

The development of cosmic ray air showers can be influenced by atmospheric electric fields. Under fair weather conditions these fields are small, but the strong fields inside thunderstorms can have a significant effect on the electromagnetic component of a shower. Understanding this effect is particularly important for radio detection of air showers, since the radio emission is produced by the shower electrons and positrons. We perform Monte Carlo simulations to calculate the effects of different electric field configurations on the shower development. We find that the electric field becomes important for values of the order of 1 kV/cm. Not only can the energy distribution of electrons and positrons change significantly for such field strengths, it is also possible that runaway electron breakdown occurs at high altitudes, which is an important effect in lightning initiation.Comment: 24 pages, 19 figures, accepted for publication in Astroparticle Physic

The background from single electromagnetic subcascades for a stereo system of air Cherenkov telescopes

The MAGIC experiment, a very large Imaging Air Cherenkov Telescope (IACT) with sensitivity to low energy (E < 100 GeV) VHE gamma rays, has been operated since 2004. It has been found that the gamma/hadron separation in IACTs becomes much more difficult below 100 GeV [Albert et al 2008] A system of two large telescopes may eventually be triggered by hadronic events containing Cherenkov light from only one electromagnetic subcascade or two gamma subcascades, which are products of the single pi^0 decay. This is a possible reason for the deterioration of the experiment's sensitivity below 100 GeV. In this paper a system of two MAGIC telescopes working in stereoscopic mode is studied using Monte Carlo simulations. The detected images have similar shapes to that of primary gamma-rays and they have small sizes (mainly below 400 photoelectrons (p.e.)) which correspond to an energy of primary gamma-rays below 100 GeV. The background from single or two electromagnetic subcascdes is concentrated at energies below 200 GeV. Finally the number of background events is compared to the number of VHE gamma-ray excess events from the Crab Nebula. The investigated background survives simple cuts for sizes below 250 p.e. and thus the experiment's sensitivity deteriorates at lower energies.Comment: 15 pages, 7 figures, published in Journ.of Phys.

Simulation of Ultra-High Energy Photon Propagation in the Geomagnetic Field

The identification of primary photons or specifying stringent limits on the photon flux is of major importance for understanding the origin of ultra-high energy (UHE) cosmic rays. We present a new Monte Carlo program allowing detailed studies of conversion and cascading of UHE photons in the geomagnetic field. The program named PRESHOWER can be used both as an independent tool or together with a shower simulation code. With the stand-alone version of the code it is possible to investigate various properties of the particle cascade induced by UHE photons interacting in the Earth's magnetic field before entering the Earth's atmosphere. Combining this program with an extensive air shower simulation code such as CORSIKA offers the possibility of investigating signatures of photon-initiated showers. In particular, features can be studied that help to discern such showers from the ones induced by hadrons. As an illustration, calculations for the conditions of the southern part of the Pierre Auger Observatory are presented.Comment: 41 pages, 9 figures, added references in introduction, corrected energy in row 1 of Table 3, extended caption of Table

Greek Life By Heck!

A coloring book of cartoons from the 1929 Sibyl, drawn by J. Parker Heck (class of 1930).These coloring pages are cartoon illustrations that were published in the “Social Groups” section of the 1929 Sibyl, with additional facts about the fraternities and sororities taken from the Otterbein University Archives.18 pages, 8 ½” x 11”.https://digitalcommons.otterbein.edu/coloring/1003/thumbnail.jp