Local shower age and segmented slope parameters of lateral density distributions of cosmic ray shower particles

Rajat K Dey

doi:10.1088/1742-6596/1468/1/012072

Abstract

The paper describes lateral density distributions of electrons and muons of cosmic ray extensive air showers (EAS) in the energy regime of the KASCADE experiment. Potential EAS observables are extracted while some suitable lateral distribution functions are introduced to describe these lateral density distributions of simulated/observed cosmic ray showers. Mass-sensitivity of these parameters are demonstrated particularly for the KASCADE electron and muon distributions data. Our studies indicate that the KASCADE data favours an idea of gradual change of cosmic ray mass composition from lighter concentration to heavier concentration in terms of these parameters.

Highlights

Recent studies using extensive air showers (EAS) data reveal that the lateral distribution (LD) of EAS electrons could not be analyzed accurately with a single age at all radial distances, which hint that the lateral age varies with the radial distance
The LD of muons has been analyzed for estimating local shower age parameter (LAP)/segmented slope parameter (SSP), thereby exploring the primary mass sensitivity of these parameters with the KASCADE muon data
The shapes of the radial distance versus local age curves for muons estimated from the simulated LD data exhibit almost the same configuration

Summary

Introduction

Recent studies using EAS data reveal that the lateral distribution (LD) of EAS electrons could not be analyzed accurately with a single age at all radial distances, which hint that the lateral age varies with the radial distance. 2. Local age and segmented slope parameters The analytical expression of the LAP and SSP using some suitable lateral density function (LDF) between two adjacent points [xi, xj] is : ln(Fij Xiαj1 Yiαj 2 ) alocal(i, j) = ln(Xij Yij )

Results

Conclusion