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

Bertaina, M.; Apel, W.D.; Arteaga-Velázquez, J.C.; Bekk, K.; Blümer, J.; Bozdog, H.; Brancus, I.M.; Buchholz, P.; Cantoni, E.; Chiavassa, A.; Cossavella, F.; Daumiller, K.; Souza, V. de; Pierro, F. Di; Doll, P.; Engel, R.; Engler, J.; Finger, M.; Fuhrmann, D.; Ghia, P.L.; Gils, H.J.; Glasstetter, R.; Grupen, C.; Haungs, A.; Heck, D.; Hörandel, J.R.; Huege, T.; Isar, P.G.; Kampert, K.-H.; Kang, D.; Kickelbick, D.; Klages, H.O.; Link, K.; Łuczak, P.; Ludwig, M.; Mathes, H.J.; Mayer, H.J.; Melissas, M.; Milke, J.; Mitrica, B.; Morello, C.; Navarra, G.; Nehls, S.; Oehlschläger, J.; Ostapchenko, S.; Over, S.; Palmieri, N.; Petcu, M.; Pierog, T.; Rebel, H.; Roth, M.; Schieler, H.; Schröder, F.; Sima, O.; Toma, G.; Trinchero, G.C.; Ulrich, H.; Weindl, A.; Wochele, J.; Wommer, M.; Zabierowski, J.

doi:doi:10.5194/astra-7-229-2011

Astrophys. Space Sci. Trans., 7, 229-234, 2011
www.astrophys-space-sci-trans.net/7/229/2011/
doi:10.5194/astra-7-229-2011
© Author(s) 2011. This work is distributed
under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

Volume 7, issue 2

27 Jun 2011

The cosmic ray energy spectrum in the range 10¹⁶–10¹⁸ eV measured by KASCADE-Grande
M. Bertaina³, W.D. Apel¹, J.C. Arteaga-Velázquez^2,a, K. Bekk¹, J. Blümer^1,2, H. Bozdog¹, I.M. Brancus⁴, P. Buchholz⁵, E. Cantoni^1,3,6, A. Chiavassa³, F. Cossavella^2,b, K. Daumiller¹, V. de Souza^2,c, F. Di Pierro³, P. Doll¹, R. Engel¹, J. Engler¹, M. Finger¹, D. Fuhrmann⁷, P.L. Ghia⁶, H.J. Gils¹, R. Glasstetter⁷, C. Grupen⁵, A. Haungs¹, D. Heck¹, J.R. Hörandel^2,d, T. Huege¹, P.G. Isar¹, K.-H. Kampert⁷, D. Kang², D. Kickelbick⁵, H.O. Klages¹, K. Link², P. Łuczak⁸, M. Ludwig², H.J. Mathes¹, H.J. Mayer¹, M. Melissas², J. Milke¹, B. Mitrica⁴, C. Morello⁶, G. Navarra^3,e, S. Nehls¹, J. Oehlschläger¹, S. Ostapchenko^1,f, S. Over⁵, N. Palmieri², M. Petcu⁴, T. Pierog¹, H. Rebel¹, M. Roth¹, H. Schieler¹, F. Schröder¹, O. Sima⁹, G. Toma⁴, G.C. Trinchero⁶, H. Ulrich¹, A. Weindl¹, J. Wochele¹, M. Wommer¹, and J. Zabierowski⁸
¹Institut für Kernphysik, Karlsruher Institut für Technologie - Campus Nord, Germany
²Institut für Experimentelle Kernphysik, Karlsruher Institut für Technologie - Campus Süd, Germany
³Dipartimento di Fisica Generale dell' Università, Torino, Italy
⁴National Institute of Physics and Nuclear Engineering, Bucharest, Romania
⁵Fachbereich Physik, Universität Siegen, Germany
⁶Istituto di Fisica dello Spazio Interplanetario, INAF Torino, Italy
⁷Fachbereich Physik, Universität Wuppertal, Germany
⁸Soltan Institute for Nuclear Studies, Lodz, Poland
⁹Department of Physics, University of Bucharest, Bucharest, Romania
^anow at: Universidad Michoacana, Instituto de Física y Matemáticas, Mexico
^bnow at: Max-Planck-Institut für Physik, München, Germany
^cnow at: Universidade São Paulo, Instituto de Física de São Carlos, Brasil
^dnow at: Dept. of Astrophysics, Radboud University Nijmegen, The Netherlands
^edeceased
^fnow at: University of Trondheim, Norway

Received: 04 Nov 2010 – Accepted: 06 Feb 2011 – Published: 27 Jun 2011

Abstract. The KASCADE-Grande experiment, located at Campus North of the 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 10¹⁴–10¹⁸ eV. One of the main goals of the experiment is the measurement of the all particle energy spectrum in the 10¹⁶–10¹⁸ eV range, i.e. extending the range accessible by KASCADE alone. The Grande detector samples the charged component (N_ch) of the air shower while the original KASCADE array provides in addition a measurement of the muon component (N_μ). The combined information of N_ch and N_μ 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 uncertainties, have been considered and compared to each other to derive the systematics on the energy spectrum. The different methods employed to derive the spectrum and their uncertainties, as well as the implications of the obtained result, are discussed in detail.

Citation: Bertaina, M., Apel, W.D., Arteaga-Velázquez, J.C., Bekk, K., Blümer, J., Bozdog, H., Brancus, I.M., Buchholz, P., Cantoni, E., Chiavassa, A., Cossavella, F., Daumiller, K., de Souza, V., Di Pierro, F., Doll, P., Engel, R., Engler, J., Finger, M., Fuhrmann, D., Ghia, P.L., Gils, H.J., Glasstetter, R., Grupen, C., Haungs, A., Heck, D., Hörandel, J.R., Huege, T., Isar, P.G., Kampert, K.-H., Kang, D., Kickelbick, D., Klages, H.O., Link, K., Łuczak, P., Ludwig, M., Mathes, H.J., Mayer, H.J., Melissas, M., Milke, J., Mitrica, B., Morello, C., Navarra, G., Nehls, S., Oehlschläger, J., Ostapchenko, S., Over, S., Palmieri, N., Petcu, M., Pierog, T., Rebel, H., Roth, M., Schieler, H., Schröder, F., Sima, O., Toma, G., Trinchero, G.C., Ulrich, H., Weindl, A., Wochele, J., Wommer, M., and Zabierowski, J.: The cosmic ray energy spectrum in the range 10¹⁶–10¹⁸ eV measured by KASCADE-Grande, Astrophys. Space Sci. Trans., 7, 229-234, doi:10.5194/astra-7-229-2011, 2011.

Astrophysics and Space Sciences Transactions

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