Research on the knee region of cosmic ray by using a novel type of electron−neutron detector array

doi:10.1007/s11467-023-1383-2

Frontiers of Physics

2024, Vol. 19

Issue (4): 44200 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11467-023-1383-2

本期目录

Research on the knee region of cosmic ray by using a novel type of electron−neutron detector array

Bing-Bing Li¹, Xin-Hua Ma^2,³(

), Shu-Wang Cui¹(

), Hao-Kun Chen^4,⁵, Tian-Lu Chen^4,⁵, Danzengluobu^4,⁵, Wei Gao^2,³, Hai-Bing Hu^4,⁵, Denis Kuleshov⁶, Kirill Kurinov⁶, Hu Liu⁷, Mao-Yuan Liu^4,⁵, Ye Liu⁸, Da-Yu Peng^4,⁵, Yao-Hui Qi¹, Oleg Shchegolev^6,⁹, Yuri Stenkin^6,⁹, Li-Qiao Yin^2,³, Heng-Yu Zhang^4,⁵, Liang-Wei Zhang¹

¹. College of Physics, Hebei Normal University, Shijiazhuang 050024, China
². Key Laboratory of Particle Astrophysics, Institute of High Energy Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
³. TIANFU Cosmic Ray Research Center, Chengdu 610000, China
⁴. College of Science, Tibet University, Lhasa 850000, China
⁵. Key Laboratory of Comic Rays, Ministry of Education, Tibet University, Lhasa 850000, China
⁶. Institute for Nuclear Research of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow 117312, Russia
⁷. School of Physical Science and Technology, Southwest Jiaotong University, Chengdu 610031, China
⁸. School of Management Science and Engineering, Hebei University of Economics and Business, Shijiazhuang 050061, China
⁹. Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, Moscow 141700, Russia

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Abstract：

By accurately measuring composition and energy spectrum of cosmic ray, the origin problem of so called “knee” region (energy > one PeV) can be solved. However, up to the present, the results of the spectrum in the knee region obtained by several previous experiments have shown obvious differences, so they cannot give effective evidence for judging the theoretical models on the origin of the knee. Recently, the Large High Altitude Air Shower Observatory (LHAASO) has reported several major breakthroughs and important results in astro-particle physics field. Relying on its advantages of wide-sky survey, high altitude location and large area detector arrays, the research content of LHAASO experiment mainly includes ultra high-energy gamma-ray astronomy, measurement of cosmic ray spectra in the knee region, searching for dark matter and new phenomena of particle physics at higher energy. The electron and thermal neutron detector (EN-Detector) is a new scintillator detector which applies thermal neutron detection technology to measure cosmic ray extensive air shower (EAS). This technology is an extension of LHAASO. The EN-Detector Array (ENDA) can highly efficiently measure thermal neutrons generated by secondary hadrons so called “skeleton” of EAS. In this paper, we perform the optimization of ENDA configuration, and obtain expectations on the ENDA results, including thermal neutron distribution, trigger efficiency and capability of cosmic ray composition separation. The obtained real data results are consistent with those by the Monte Carlo simulation.

Key words： cosmic ray EAS knee region LHAASO ENDA

收稿日期: 2023-10-21 出版日期: 2024-02-07

Corresponding Author(s): Xin-Hua Ma,Shu-Wang Cui

引用本文:

. [J]. Frontiers of Physics, 2024, 19(4): 44200.
Bing-Bing Li, Xin-Hua Ma, Shu-Wang Cui, Hao-Kun Chen, Tian-Lu Chen, Danzengluobu, Wei Gao, Hai-Bing Hu, Denis Kuleshov, Kirill Kurinov, Hu Liu, Mao-Yuan Liu, Ye Liu, Da-Yu Peng, Yao-Hui Qi, Oleg Shchegolev, Yuri Stenkin, Li-Qiao Yin, Heng-Yu Zhang, Liang-Wei Zhang. Research on the knee region of cosmic ray by using a novel type of electron−neutron detector array. Front. Phys. , 2024, 19(4): 44200.

链接本文:

https://academic.hep.com.cn/fop/CN/10.1007/s11467-023-1383-2
https://academic.hep.com.cn/fop/CN/Y2024/V19/I4/44200

Fig.1

Fig.2

Composition	$a 1$	$a 2$	$a 3$	$γ 1$	$γ 2$	$γ 3$

P	7860	20	1.7	2.66	2.44	2.44
He	3550	20	1.7	2.58	2.44	2.44
CNO	2200	13.4	1.14	2.63	2.44	2.44
MgAlSi	1430	13.4	1.14	2.67	2.44	2.44
Fe	2120	13.4	1.14	2.63	2.44	2.44

Tab.1

Fig.3

Fig.4

Fig.5

Fig.6

Fig.7

Target component	$a 0$	$b 0$	$?$	$η$	$H 2$

Proton	−50	2.0	76%	32%	0.62
Light component	−5.0	1.0	86%	56%	0.79
Iron	−20	4.0	52%	47%	0.51

Tab.2

Fig.8

Fig.9

Fig.10

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