The differences in angular distributions of secondaries form EAS initiated by gammas and protons

Abstract

Monte Carlo simulations have been performed for extensive atmospheric showers (EAS) initiated by primary gammas and protons. At sea level the angular distributions of the charged secondaries from proton-initiated showers are narrower than those from gamma-initiated showers. This effect is significant and it occurs at all radii. Thus by exploiting this difference, gamma showers can be enhanced over background if one has sufficient experimental angular resolution on individual tracks and sufficient numbers of detected particles.