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Reconstruction of energy spectra for different mass groups of high-energy cosmic rays
| Content Provider | Semantic Scholar |
|---|---|
| Author | Finger, Marcel René |
| Copyright Year | 2011 |
| Abstract | The KASCADE-Grande experiment located at the Karlsruher Institute of Technology (Campus North) is a multi detector system for the measurement of extensive air showers, consisting of the former KASCADE experiment and its extension Grande. Main goal of the experiment is the measurement of the energy spectrum and the composition of cosmic rays in the energy range from 1015 to 1018 eV. The energy spectrum exhibits in the measurement range of KASCADE at ≈ 4× 1015 eV a change of slope, which is referred to as the “knee” in the energy spectrum of cosmic rays. Its origin is still unknown, but there exist several theories which try to explain this structure. To confirm or falsify some scenarios a precise knowledge of the energy spectra of individual elemental groups and of the all-particle spectrum is indispensable. The data measured by the KASCADE experiment allows the reconstruction of the energy spectra of individual mass groups (H, He, C, Si, Fe). A comparison of the knee position of the all-particle spectrum with the knee position of the hydrogen and helium reveals that the knee in the all-particle spectrum originates from the kink of these spectra of the light elements. Assuming an dependence of the knee positions of the individual elements on the mass number or on the valence, another kink in the energy spectrum is expected at an energy of some 1017 eV, which is caused by the heavy component and therefore referred to as the iron knee. Up to now the existence of the iron knee was not confirmed and for this reason the determination of the spectra of the individual mass groups in the region around 1017 eV can contribute to investigating the iron knee. The present work deals with the deconvolution of KASCADE and KASCADE-Grande data, which allows the reconstruction of the all-particle energy spectrum and the determination of the energy spectra of individual mass groups. In the analysis an iterative deconvolution procedure is applied (Gold algorithm), based upon the measured two-dimensional shower size spectrum of electron and muon numbers. By means of simulations the response functions, which are necessary for the deconvolution analysis, are determined. The analysis comprises the results of the KASCADE deconvolution analysis on the basis of different interaction models (QGSJET01, QGSJETII, EPOS1.99 and SIBYLL) as well as the results of the KASCADEGrande deconvolution analysis on the basis of QGSJETII. The examination of the KASCADE unfolding results derived by the use of different hadronic high energy interaction models indeed reveals a strong dependency of the individual energy spectra on the hadronic high-energy interaction model used, but the reconstructed all-particle fluxes agree well within the uncertainties. The all-particle spectra, originating from different interaction models, exhibit a knee (change of index) around 4 × 1015 eV, slightly varying from one model to the other. Additionally all results show knee-like features in the energy spectra of the light primaries (H and He) and suggest a rigidity dependence of the knee positions of the individual elements. An extension of the unfolding analysis to KASCADE-Grande data confirms the existence of a knee-like structure in the iron spectrum, but the all-particle energy spectrum does not exhibit such a feature. The kink in the iron spectrum is as well compatible with a rigidity dependence. |
| File Format | PDF HTM / HTML |
| DOI | 10.5445/IR/1000023830 |
| Alternate Webpage(s) | https://publikationen.bibliothek.kit.edu/1000023830/1801703 |
| Alternate Webpage(s) | https://doi.org/10.5445/IR%2F1000023830 |
| Language | English |
| Access Restriction | Open |
| Content Type | Text |
| Resource Type | Article |
