104 research outputs found
Reinterpreting the development of extensive air showers initiated by nuclei and photons
Ultra-high energy cosmic rays (UHECRs) interacting with the atmosphere
generate extensive air showers (EAS) of secondary particles. The depth
corresponding to the maximum development of the shower, \Xmax, is a
well-known observable for determining the nature of the primary cosmic ray
which initiated the cascade process. In this paper, we present an empirical
model to describe the distribution of \Xmax for EAS initiated by nuclei, in
the energy range from eV up to eV, and by photons, in the
energy range from eV up to eV. Our model adopts the
generalized Gumbel distribution motivated by the relationship between the
generalized Gumbel statistics and the distribution of the sum of
non-identically distributed variables in dissipative stochastic systems. We
provide an analytical expression for describing the \Xmax distribution for
photons and for nuclei, and for their first two statistical moments, namely
\langle \Xmax\rangle and \sigma^{2}(\Xmax). The impact of the hadronic
interaction model is investigated in detail, even in the case of the most
up-to-date models accounting for LHC observations. We also briefly discuss the
differences with a more classical approach and an application to the
experimental data based on information theory.Comment: 21 pages, 4 tables, 8 figure
Layered water Cherenkov detector for the study of ultra high energy cosmic rays
We present a new design for the water Cherenkov detectors that are in use in
various cosmic ray observatories. This novel design can provide a significant
improvement in the independent measurement of the muonic and electromagnetic
component of extensive air showers. From such multi-component data an event by
event classification of the primary cosmic ray mass becomes possible. According
to popular hadronic interaction models, such as EPOS-LHC or QGSJetII-04, the
discriminating power between iron and hydrogen primaries reaches Fisher values
of 2 or above for energies in excess of eV with a detector
array layout similar to that of the Pierre Auger Observatory.Comment: 17 pages, 15 figures, submitted to Nuclear Instruments and Methods
Measurement of the cosmic ray energy spectrum using hybrid events of the Pierre Auger Observatory
The energy spectrum of ultra-high energy cosmic rays above 1018 eV is measured using the hybrid events collected by the Pierre Auger Observatory between November 2005 and September 2010. The large exposure of the Observatory allows the measurement of the main features of the energy spectrum with high statistics. Full Monte Carlo simulations of the extensive air showers (based on the CORSIKA code) and of the hybrid detector response are adopted here as an independent cross check of the standard analysis (Phys. Lett. B 685, 239 (2010)). The dependence on mass composition and other systematic uncertainties are discussed in detail and, in the full Monte Carlo approach, a region of confidence for flux measurements is defined when all the uncertainties are taken into account. An update is also reported of the energy spectrum obtained by combining the hybrid spectrum and that measured using the surface detector array. © 2012 Società Italiana di Fisica and Springer
Measurement of the cosmic ray spectrum above eV using inclined events detected with the Pierre Auger Observatory
A measurement of the cosmic-ray spectrum for energies exceeding
eV is presented, which is based on the analysis of showers
with zenith angles greater than detected with the Pierre Auger
Observatory between 1 January 2004 and 31 December 2013. The measured spectrum
confirms a flux suppression at the highest energies. Above
eV, the "ankle", the flux can be described by a power law with
index followed by
a smooth suppression region. For the energy () at which the
spectral flux has fallen to one-half of its extrapolated value in the absence
of suppression, we find
eV.Comment: Replaced with published version. Added journal reference and DO
Detection of the Diffuse Supernova Neutrino Background with JUNO
As an underground multi-purpose neutrino detector with 20 kton liquid scintillator, Jiangmen Underground Neutrino Observatory (JUNO) is competitive with and complementary to the water-Cherenkov detectors on the search for the diffuse supernova neutrino background (DSNB). Typical supernova models predict 2-4 events per year within the optimal observation window in the JUNO detector. The dominant background is from the neutral-current (NC) interaction of atmospheric neutrinos with 12C nuclei, which surpasses the DSNB by more than one order of magnitude. We evaluated the systematic uncertainty of NC background from the spread of a variety of data-driven models and further developed a method to determine NC background within 15\% with {\it{in}} {\it{situ}} measurements after ten years of running. Besides, the NC-like backgrounds can be effectively suppressed by the intrinsic pulse-shape discrimination (PSD) capabilities of liquid scintillators. In this talk, I will present in detail the improvements on NC background uncertainty evaluation, PSD discriminator development, and finally, the potential of DSNB sensitivity in JUNO
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