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On the Detection of Heavy Primaries above 1014 EV

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 August 2015

T. K. Gaisser
Affiliation:
Bartol Research Foundation of The Franklin Institute, University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware 19711
Todor Stanev
Affiliation:
Bartol Research Foundation of The Franklin Institute, University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware 19711
Phyllis Freier
Affiliation:
School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455
C. Jake Waddington
Affiliation:
School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455

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Knowledge of the chemical composition is fundamental to understanding the origin, acceleration and propagation of cosmic rays. At energies much above 1014 eV, however, the detection of single primary cosmic rays is at present impossible because of their low flux, and the only source of information is from the cascades initiated by energetic primary particles in the atmosphere–the extensive air showers (EAS). A similar situation exists for the study of hadronic interactions above 1015 eV. A recent EAS experiment (Goodman et al., 1979) suggests the possibility that the spectrum becomes increasingly rich in heavy nuclei as the total energy per nucleus approaches 1015 eV. Above that energy the overall spectrum steepens and the question of composition is almost completely open.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Reidel 1981 

References

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