학술논문
Cosmic ray spectrum of protons plus helium nuclei between 6 TeV and 158 TeV from HAWC data
Document Type
Working Paper
Author
HAWC Collaboration; Albert, A.; Alfaro, R.; Alvarez, C.; Camacho, J. R. Angeles; Arteaga-Velázquez, J. C.; Arunbabu, K. P.; Rojas, D. Avila; Solares, H. A. Ayala; Belmont-Moreno, E.; Brisbois, C.; Caballero-Mora, K. S.; Capistrán, T.; Carramiñana, A.; Casanova, S.; Cotti, U.; Cotzomi, J.; De la Fuente, E.; Hernandez, R. Diaz; DuVernois, M. A.; Durocher, M.; Díaz-Vélez, J. C.; Espinoza, C.; Fraija, N.; García-González, J. A.; Garfias, F.; González, M. M.; Goodman, J. A.; Harding, J. P.; Hona, B.; Huang, D.; Hueyotl-Zahuantitla, F.; Hüntemeyer, P.; Iriarte, A.; Joshi, V.; Kieda, D.; Kunde, G. J.; Lara, A.; Lee, W. H.; Vargas, H. León; Linnemann, J. T.; Longinotti, A. L.; Luis-Raya, G.; Malone, K.; Martinez, O.; Martínez-Castro, J.; Matthews, J. A.; Miranda-Romagnoli, P.; Morales-Soto, J. A.; Moreno, E.; Mostafá, M.; Nayerhoda, A.; Nellen, L.; Newbold, M.; Noriega-Papaqui, R.; Omodei, N.; Pérez-Pérez, E. G.; Rho, C. D.; Rosa-González, D.; Salazar, H.; Greus, F. Salesa; Sandoval, A.; Serna-Franco, J.; Smith, A. J.; Springer, R. W.; Tollefson, K.; Torres, I.; Torres-Escobedo, R.; Ureña-Mena, F.; Villaseñor, L.; Wang, X.; Willox, E.; Zhou, H.; de León, C.; Álvarez, J. D.; Yodh, G. B.; Zepeda, A.
Source
Physical Review D, Volumen 105, Issue 6, 063021 (2022)
Subject
Language
Abstract
A measurement with high statistics of the differential energy spectrum of light elements in cosmic rays, in particular, of primary H plus He nuclei, is reported. The spectrum is presented in the energy range from $6$ to $158$ TeV per nucleus. Data was collected with the High Altitude Water Cherenkov (HAWC) Observatory between June 2015 and June 2019. The analysis was based on a Bayesian unfolding procedure, which was applied on a subsample of vertical HAWC data that was enriched to $82\%$ of events induced by light nuclei. To achieve the mass separation, a cut on the lateral age of air shower data was set guided by predictions of CORSIKA/QGSJET-II-04 simulations. The measured spectrum is consistent with a broken power-law spectrum and shows a kneelike feature at around $E = 24.0^{+3.6}_{-3.1} $ TeV, with a spectral index $\gamma = -2.51 \pm 0.02$ before the break and with $\gamma = -2.83 \pm 0.02$ above it. The feature has a statistical significance of $4.1 \, \sigma$. Within systematic uncertainties, the significance of the spectral break is $0.8 \, \sigma$.
Comment: 32 pages, 24 figures, published in Physical Review D
Comment: 32 pages, 24 figures, published in Physical Review D