Rigidity-dependent cosmic ray energy spectra in the knee region obtained with the GAMMA experiment

On the basis of the extensive air shower (EAS) data obtained by the GAMMA experiment, the energy spectra and elemental composition of the primary cosmic rays are derived in the 1-100 PeV energy range. The reconstruction of the primary energy spectra is carried out using an EAS inverse approach in th...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:arXiv.org 2007-04
Main Authors: Garyaka, A P, Martirosov, R M, Ter-Antonyan, S V, Nikolskaya, N, Gallant, Y A, Jones, L, Procureur, J
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Composition
Cosmic ray showers
Cosmic rays
Energy
Energy spectra
Interaction models
Jupiter
Knee
Nuclei (nuclear physics)
Ocean currents
Parameter uncertainty
Primary cosmic rays
Reconstruction
Rigidity
Variations
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Summary:On the basis of the extensive air shower (EAS) data obtained by the GAMMA experiment, the energy spectra and elemental composition of the primary cosmic rays are derived in the 1-100 PeV energy range. The reconstruction of the primary energy spectra is carried out using an EAS inverse approach in the framework of the SIBYLL2.1 and QGSJET01 interaction models and the hypothesis of power-law primary energy spectra with rigidity-dependent knees. The energy spectra of primary H, He, O-like and Fe-like nuclei obtained with the SIBYLL interaction model agree with corresponding extrapolations of the balloon and satellite data to ~1 PeV energies. The energy spectra obtained from the QGSJET model show a predominantly proton composition in the knee region. The rigidity-dependent knee feature of the primary energy spectra for each interaction model is displayed at the following rigidities: ~2.5+/-0.2 PV (SIBYLL) and ~3.1-4.2 PV (QGSJET). All the results presented are derived taking into account the detector response, the reconstruction uncertainties of the EAS parameters, and fluctuations in the EAS development.
ISSN:2331-8422
DOI:10.48550/arxiv.0704.3200