Novel method for detecting the hadronic component of extensive air showers
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EMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS Experiment
Novel Method for Detecting the Hadronic Component of Extensive Air Showers D. M. Gromushkin1)* , V. I. Volchenko2), A. A. Petrukhin1) , Yu. V. Stenkin1), 2) , V. I. Stepanov2) , O. B. Shchegolev2) , and I. I. Yashin1) Received June 29, 2014
Abstract—A novel method for studying the hadronic component of extensive air showers (EAS) is proposed. The method is based on recording thermal neutrons accompanying EAS with en-detectors that are sensitive to two EAS components: an electromagnetic (e) component and a hadron component in the form of neutrons (n). In contrast to hadron calorimeters used in some arrays, the proposed method makes it possible to record the hadronic component over the whole area of the array. The efficiency of a prototype array that consists of 32 en-detectors was tested for a long time, and some parameters of the neutron EAS component were determined. DOI: 10.1134/S1063778815020179
1. INTRODUCTION Currently existing methods for studying extensive air showers (EAS) are based on detecting their electromagnetic and muon components by means of scintillation, Cherenkov, and fluorescent detectors and, sometimes, on studying EAS hadrons using calorimeters. However, calorimeters have quite a limited area, both for purely technical and for economical reasons. The method proposed here makes it possible to measure the hadronic component over the whole area of the array used. The interaction of high-energy shower hadrons with nuclei of atmospheric atoms and atoms of the Earth’s surface leads to the formation of a neutron component, which carries important information about the phase of EAS development. In addition, the fact that the EAS time profile in thermal neutrons is 10 ms (this is nearly 106 times as long as the time profile of charged particles near the shower core) is an obvious advantage of the neutron component. This facilitates the counting of such neutrons. Further, the number of secondary neutrons at the observation level is much greater than the number of parent hadrons and substantially greater than the number of muons in a shower. The PRISMA (PRImary Spectrum Measurement Array) project based on detecting delayed thermal neutrons accompanying extensive air showers [1, 2] 1)
National Research Nuclear University MEPhI (Moscow Engineering Physics Institute), Kashirskoe sh. 31, Moscow, 115409 Russia. 2) Institute of Nuclear Research, Russian Academy of Sciences, pr. Shestidesyatiletiya Oktyabrya 7a, Moscow, 117312 Russia. * E-mail: [email protected]
was proposed at the Institute for Nuclear Research (INR, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow). For a detecting element, this project would employ en-detectors that are able to detect simultaneously two shower components: an electromagnetic component—predominantly electrons (e)— associated with group propagation of charged particles and a hadronic component through thermal neutrons (n). In 2006, the development and creation of a prototype of such an array (ProtoPRISMA array) for studying the EAS hadronic componen
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