Extensive Air Shower Experiment Research Articles

Energy spectra of elemental groups of cosmic rays with the KASCADE experiment data and machine learning

We report the reconstruction of the mass component spectra of cosmic rays (protons, helium, carbon, silicon and iron) and their mean mass composition, at energies from 1.4 to 100 PeV. The results are derived from the archival data of the extensive air shower experiment KASCADE. We use a novel machine learning technique developed specifically for this reconstruction, and post-LHC hadronic interaction models: QGSJet-II.04, EPOS-LHC and Sibyll 2.3c. We have found an excess of the proton component and a deficit of intermediate and heavy nuclei components compared to the original KASCADE results. The spectra of protons and helium show a knee-like behavior at ∼ 4.4 PeV and ∼ 11 PeV, with significances 5.2σ and 3.9σ, respectively. The spectrum of the iron component has a hint (2.4σ) of a hardening at ∼ 4.5 PeV, which can be interpreted as a counterpart of a hardening in the proton spectrum at 166 TeV, recently reported by the GRAPES-3 experiment. The systematic uncertainties of our analysis were found to be smaller than those of the original KASCADE, as well as those of IceTop and TALE experiments, over the most part of the energy range studied. We also estimated separately the uncertainty related to the difference between the three mentioned hadronic interaction models. We also compute a mean logarithm mass of CR flux as a function of energy. It is in agreement with the results of IceTop, TALE and LHAASO within the uncertainties.

Particle correlation in the cosmic ray showers around the spectral knee

In this paper, we answer the question to what extent the particles in showers initiated by particles with energies of 1014 – 1017 eV observed at the edges of extensive air showers, where average particle densities are low (< a few per m2), are correlated. The particle number multiplicity distributions in the surface detectors of the shower arrays are affected by the existence of such a correlation. They are well described by a negative binomial distribution rather than Poisson. Positive correlations cause the distributions to become broader and, in general, the variance of the observed particle number is larger than is usually assumed in the analysis of the shower registration by the Extensive Air Shower experiments. We show how this increase can alter the results of shower axis localisation algorithms.

Highlights of the results from the GRAPES-3 experiment

The GRAPES-3 experiment is a unique, extensive air shower experiment consisting of 400 scintillator detectors spread over 25000 m^22 and a 560 m^22 muon telescope. The experiment located at Ooty, India, has been collecting data for the past two decades. The unique capabilities of GRAPES-3 have allowed the study of cosmic rays over energies from a few TeV to tens of PeV and beyond. The measurement of the directional flux of muons (E_\muμ≥1 GeV) by the large muon telescope permits an excellent gamma-hadron separation, which then becomes a powerful tool in the study of multi-TeV gamma-ray sources and the composition of primary cosmic rays. However, the high precision measurements also enable studies of transient atmospheric and interplanetary phenomena such as those produced by thunderstorms and geomagnetic storms. This paper presents some exciting new and recent results, including updates on various ongoing analyses.

Universality of the muon component of extensive air showers

In extensive air shower experiments, the number of muons crossing a detector at a given position, as well as their arrival time, arrival direction, and energy, are determined by a more fundamental 3-dimensional distribution linked to the hadronic core of the shower. Muons are produced high up in the atmosphere after the decay of mesons in the hadronic cascade. The distributions of production depth, energy, and transverse momentum of muons are enough to fully predict the muon component of air showers in any particular observational condition. By using air-shower simulations with the state-of-the-art hadronic interaction models, the mentioned distributions at production are analyzed as a function of zenith angle, primary mass, and hadronic interaction model, and their level of universality is studied and assessed in an exhaustive manner for the first time.

Investigation on the cosmic-ray shadow of planets and asteroids

The moon shadow and sun shadow of cosmic rays are commonly used to calibrate the angular resolution of the instrument in extensive air shower experiments, measure the proton-antiproton ratio, and study the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF). The shadow effect of planets and asteroids in the solar system, on the other hand, has received little attention. If considerable shadow effects can be observed, a novel approach may be developed to calibrate the point spread function and investigate the IMF. In this work, we calculate the sensitivity of observing the shadow effects of planets and asteroids in the next hundred years using LHAASO’s instrumental response as an example. The result shows that the blocking impact of these celestial bodies is minimal; thus, their influence on the direction distribution of cosmic rays is negligible.

Detection of GRBs at high altitudes with a prototype water Cherenkov detector using single-particle technology

Ground extensive air shower experiment is powerless for detecting cosmic ray particles of tens-GeV energy in the GRBs (Gamma Ray Burst) so far, because of its threshold energy. The experimental altitude needs to be increased in order to achieve more effective observation. In this study a water Cherenkov detector prototype based on the single-particle counting technology was constructed to detect GRBs at an altitude of 3,650 m. The preliminary test results show that the detector made in this study has stable performance and can detect cosmic rays. If it is placed at an altitude of approximately 5,200 m, the GRBs with tens-GeV of energy can hopefully be detected.

Imprint of the atmospheric attenuation process on electron distribution in EAS

The lateral density distribution (LDD) of shower particles in an extensive air shower (EAS) experiment is commonly approximated by a particular type of lateral density function (LDF). A standard perception is being used in air shower physics since long, according to which the LDD is assumed to be symmetric about the EAS axis, and the adopted LDF is adequate for the description of the LDD. However, the simulated electron density of a non-vertical EAS is asymmetric. In this work, such asymmetry in the LDD can be qualitatively explained as the atmospheric attenuation suffered by each shower particle. Quantitatively, the asymmetry can be roughly described in terms of a gap length (GL) between the EAS core and the center of the modified density pattern consisting of several equi-density ellipses. This study also validates the use of such a modeling of the atmospheric attenuation on the electromagnetic component in an EAS by investigating the so called GL in simulated density data. A modified LDF is proposed, based on these features of the simulated densities for the purpose of shower reconstruction in EAS experiments. The GL arises from attenuation effect is found to increase with the mass of the shower initiating particle. A different radial dependence of the local age parameter (LAP) is seen, if the modified LDF is applied to simulated electron densities. Primary cosmic-ray mass sensitivity of the LAP is also re-examined.

Interpretation of measurements of the number of muons in extensive air shower experiments

In this paper we analyze the energy evolution of the muon content of air showers between 1018.4 and 1019.6 eV to be able to determine the most likely mass composition scenario from future number of muons measurements. The energy and primary mass evolution of the number of muons is studied based on the Heitler–Matthews model and Monte Carlo simulation of the air shower. A simple model to describe the evolution of the first and second moments of number of muons distributions is proposed and validated. An analysis approach based on the comparison between this model’s predictions and data to discriminate among a set of composition scenarios is presented and tested with simulations. It is shown that the composition scenarios can be potentially discriminated under the conditions imposed by the method. The discrimination power of the proposed analysis is stable under systematic changes of the absolute number of muons from model predictions and on the scale of the reconstructed energy.

Calibration of pulse transit time through a cable for EAS experiments

In ground-based extensive air shower experiments, the direction and energy are reconstructed by measuring the relative arrival time of secondary particles, and the energy they deposit. The measurement precision of the arrival time is crucial for determination of the angular resolution. For this purpose, we need to obtain a precise relative time offset for each detector and to apply the calibration process. The time offset is associated with the photomultiplier tube, cable, relevant electronic circuits, etc. In view of the transit time through long cables being heavily dependent on the ambient temperature, a real-time calibration method for the cable transit time is investigated in this paper. Even with a poor-resolution time-to-digital converter, this method can achieve high precision. This has been successfully demonstrated with the Front-End-Electronic board used in the Daya Bay neutrino experiment.

DETECTION OF A CHANGE OF SLOPE IN THE SPECTRUM OF HEAVY MASS COSMIC RAYS PRIMARIES BY THE KASCADE-GRANDE EXPERIMENT

KASCADE-Grande is an extensive air shower experiment devoted to the study of cosmic rays in the 1016 ÷ 1018 eV energy range. The array is composed by different detectors allowing independent measurements of the number of muons (Nμ) and charged particles (Nch) of extensive air showers (EAS). These two observables are then used to study the primary energy spectrum, separating the events in two samples, on the basis of the shower size ratio, corrected for attenuation in the atmosphere, lnNμ/ lnNch. The two samples represent the light and heavy mass groups of the primaries. In the studied energy range only the spectrum of heavy primaries shows a significant change of slope, the energy (estimated using the QGSJET II hadronic interaction model) of this feature is in agreeement with the expectations of a rigidity dependent knee feature.

DETECTION OF A CHANGE OF SLOPE IN THE SPECTRUM OF HEAVY MASS COSMIC RAYS PRIMARIES BY THE KASCADE-GRANDE EXPERIMENT

KASCADE-Grande is an extensive air shower experiment devoted to the study of cosmic rays in the 1016 ÷ 1018 eV energy range. The array is composed by different detectors allowing independent measurements of the number of muons (Nμ) and charged particles (Nch) of extensive air showers (EAS). These two observables are then used to study the primary energy spectrum, separating the events in two samples, on the basis of the shower size ratio, corrected for attenuation in the atmosphere, lnNμ/ lnNch. The two samples represent the light and heavy mass groups of the primaries. In the studied energy range only the spectrum of heavy primaries shows a significant change of slope, the energy (estimated using the QGSJET II hadronic interaction model) of this feature is in agreeement with the expectations of a rigidity dependent knee feature.

Evaluation of a wide-sky survey method for EAS experiments

Several ground-based extensive air shower (EAS) experiments such as As γ and Milagro have observed that CRs show large scale anisotropy in the TeV energy region with an amplitude of about 0.1%. The amplitude of anisotropy is so weak that we have to deal carefully with potential errors introduced by analysis methods. In this paper, we discuss a method based on χ2-iteration algorithm for wide sky survey analysis in the use of equi-zenith angle method with large sample data. The results show that χ2-iteration method leads to accurate and reasonable results in the case of large scale anisotropy in data samples.

Monte Carlo code G3sim for simulation of plastic scintillator detectors with wavelength shifter fiber readout

A detailed description of a compact Monte Carlo simulation code "G3sim" for studying the performance of a plastic scintillator detector with wavelength shifter (WLS) fiber readout is presented. G3sim was developed for optimizing the design of new scintillator detectors used in the GRAPES-3 extensive air shower experiment. Propagation of the blue photons produced by the passage of relativistic charged particles in the scintillator is treated by incorporating the absorption, total internal, and diffuse reflections. Capture of blue photons by the WLS fibers and subsequent re-emission of longer wavelength green photons is appropriately treated. The trapping and propagation of green photons inside the WLS fiber is treated using the laws of optics for meridional and skew rays. Propagation time of each photon is taken into account for the generation of the electrical signal at the photomultiplier. A comparison of the results from G3sim with the performance of a prototype scintillator detector showed an excellent agreement between the simulated and measured properties. The simulation results can be parametrized in terms of exponential functions providing a deeper insight into the functioning of these versatile detectors. G3sim can be used to aid the design and optimize the performance of scintillator detectors prior to actual fabrication that may result in a considerable saving of time, labor, and money spent.

Results from KASCADE–Grande

The KASCADE–Grande experiment, located at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (Germany) is a multi-component extensive air-shower experiment devoted to the study of cosmic rays and their interactions at primary energies 1014–1018eV. Main goals of the experiment are the measurement of the all-particle energy spectrum and mass composition in the 1016–1018eV range by sampling charged (Nch) and muon (Nμ) components of the air shower. The method to derive the energy spectrum and its uncertainties, as well as the implications of the obtained result, is discussed. An overview of the analyses performed by KASCADE–Grande to derive the mass composition of the measured high-energy comic rays is presented as well.

The cosmic ray energy spectrum in the range 10&lt;sup&gt;16&lt;/sup&gt;&amp;ndash;10&lt;sup&gt;18&lt;/sup&gt; eV measured by KASCADE-Grande

The KASCADE-Grande experiment, located at Campus North of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (Ger- many) is a multi-component extensive air-shower experiment devoted to the study of cosmic rays and their interactions at primary energies 10 14 − 10 18 eV. One of the main goals of the experiment is the measurement of the all particle en- ergy spectrum in the 10 16 − 10 18 eV range, i.e. extending the range accessible by KASCADE alone. The Grande detec- tor samples the charged component (Nch) of the air shower while the original KASCADE array provides in addition a measurement of the muon component (Nµ). The combined information of Nch and Nµ is used to estimate the energy on an event-by-event basis and to derive the all-particle energy spectrum. Since the calibration of the observables in terms of the primary energy depends on Monte Carlo simulations, three different methods with partially different sources of un-

Restoring the azimuthal symmetry of lateral distributions of charged particles in the range of the KASCADE-Grande experiment

The reconstruction of Extensive Air Showers (EAS) observed by particle detectors at the ground is based on the characteristics of observables like the lateral particle density and the arrival times. The lateral densities, inferred for different EAS components from detector data, are usually parameterised by applying various lateral distribution functions (LDFs). The LDFs are used in turn for evaluating quantities like the total number of particles or the density at particular radial distances. Typical expressions for LDFs anticipate azimuthal symmetry of the density around the shower axis. The deviations of the lateral particle density from this assumption arising from various reasons are smoothed out in the case of compact arrays like KASCADE, but not in the case of arrays like Grande, which only sample a smaller part of the azimuthal variation. KASCADE-Grande, an extension of the former KASCADE experiment, is a multi-component Extensive Air Shower (EAS) experiment located at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (Campus North), Germany. The lateral distributions of charged particles are deduced from the basic information provided by the Grande scintillators – the energy deposits – first in the observation plane, then in the intrinsic shower plane. In all steps azimuthal dependences should be taken into account. As the energy deposit in the scintillators is dependent on the angles of incidence of the particles, azimuthal dependences are already involved in the first step: the conversion from the energy deposits to the charged particle density. This is done by using the Lateral Energy Correction Function (LECF) that evaluates the mean energy deposited by a charged particle taking into account the contribution of other particles (e.g. photons) to the energy deposit. By using a very fast procedure for the evaluation of the energy deposited by various particles we prepared realistic LECFs depending on the angle of incidence of the shower and on the radial and azimuthal coordinates of the location of the detector. Mapping the lateral density from the observation plane onto the intrinsic shower plane does not remove the azimuthal dependences arising from geometric and attenuation effects, in particular for inclined showers. Realistic procedures for applying correction factors are developed. Specific examples of the bias due to neglecting the azimuthal asymmetries in the conversion from the energy deposit in the Grande detectors to the lateral density of charged particles in the intrinsic shower plane are given.

THE EXTENSIVE AIR SHOWER EXPERIMENT KASCADE-GRANDE

The extensive air shower experiment KASCADE-Grande (KArlsruhe Shower Core and Array DEtector and Grande array) is located on site of the Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe in Germany. The original KASCADE experiment consisted of a densely packed scintillator array with unshielded and shielded detectors for the measurement of the electromagnetic and muonic shower component independently, as well as muon tracking devices and a hadron calorimeter. The Grande array as an extension of KASCADE consists of 37 scintillation detector stations covering an area of 700×700 m2. The main goal for the combined measurements of KASCADE and Grande is the investigation of the energy spectrum and composition of primary cosmic rays in the energy range of 1016 to 1018 eV. In this paper an overview of the KASCADE-Grande experiment and recent results will be presented.

The complex EAS hybrid arrays in Tibet

The Tibet hybrid experiment is an extensive air shower experiment that operated at Yangbajing (E90°31', N30°06'; 4300 m above sea level) in Tibet, China, since 1996. This multi-detector system is used to observe air showers of high energy celestial gamma-ray origin and that of nuclear-component origin. Both observations aim to investigate the origin of cosmic rays using different methods. In this paper, based on the energy spectrum of the nuclear component and its chemical composition around the knee, we would like to discuss whether they could be described by the theoretical picture of the diffusive shock acceleration at SNRs. The consistency of the experimental data with rigidity dependent cutoff spectrum of CRs is examined using Tibet data and KASCADE data. It is found that both experimental data cannot be fully interpreted by such a simple approach. The sharp knee observed by Tibet experiment suggests the contribution of nearby source(s).

The Air-Shower Experiment KASCADE-Grande

KASCADE-Grande is an extensive air shower experiment at the Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe, Germany. Main parts of the experiment are the Grande array spread over an area of 700×700m2, the original KASCADE array covering 200×200m2 with unshielded and shielded detectors, and additional muon tracking devices. This multi-detector system allows to investigate the energy spectrum, composition, and anisotropies of cosmic rays in the energy range up to 1 EeV. An overview on the performance of the apparatus and first results will be given.

EPOS Model and Ultra High Energy Cosmic Rays

Interpretation of extensive air showers (EAS) experiments results is strongly based on air shower simulations. The latter being based on hadronic interaction models, any new model can help for the understanding of the nature of cosmic rays. The EPOS model reproducing all major results of existing accelerator data (including detailed data of RHIC experiments) has been introduced in air shower simulation programs CORSIKA and CONEX few years ago. The new EPOS 1.99 has recently been updated taking into account the problem seen in EAS development using EPOS 1.61. We will show in details the relationship between some EPOS hadronic properties and EAS development, as well as the consequences on the model and finally on cosmic ray analysis.