KASCADE and KASCADE-Grande were multi-detector installations to measure individual air showers of cosmic rays at ultra-high energy. Based on data sets measured by KASCADE and KASCADE-Grande, 90% C.L. ...upper limits to the flux of gamma-rays in the primary cosmic ray flux are determined in an energy range of eV. The analysis is performed by selecting air showers with a low muon content as expected for gamma-ray-induced showers compared to air showers induced by energetic nuclei. The best upper limit of the fraction of gamma-rays to the total cosmic ray flux is obtained at eV with . Translated to an absolute gamma-ray flux this sets constraints on some fundamental astrophysical models, such as the distance of sources for at least one of the IceCube neutrino excess models.
The ‘KASCADE Cosmic ray Data Centre’ is a web portal (
https://kcdc.ikp.kit.edu
), where the data of the astroparticle physics experiment KASCADE-Grande are made available for the interested public. ...The KASCADE experiment was a large-area detector for the measurement of high-energy cosmic rays via the detection of extensive air showers. The multi-detector installations KASCADE and its extension KASCADE-Grande stopped the active data acquisition in 2013 after more than 20 years of data taking. In several updates since our first release in 2013 with KCDC we provide the public measured and reconstructed parameters of more than 433 million air showers. In addition, KCDC provides meta data information and documentation to enable a user outside the community of experts to perform their own data analysis. Simulation data from three different high energy interaction models have been made available as well as a compilation of measured and published spectra from various experiments. In addition, detailed educational examples shall encourage high-school students and early stage researchers to learn about astroparticle physics, cosmic radiation as well as the handling of Big Data and about the sustainable and public provision of scientific data.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
LOPES, the LOFAR prototype station, was an antenna array for cosmic-ray air showers operating from 2003 to 2013 within the KASCADE-Grande experiment. Meanwhile, the analysis is finished and the data ...of air-shower events measured by LOPES are available with open access in the KASCADE Cosmic Ray Data Center (KCDC). This article intends to provide a summary of the achievements, results, and lessons learned from LOPES. By digital, interferometric beamforming the detection of air showers became possible in the radio-loud environment of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT). As a prototype experiment, LOPES tested several antenna types, array configurations and calibration techniques, and pioneered analysis methods for the reconstruction of the most important shower parameters, i.e., the arrival direction, the energy, and mass-dependent observables such as the position of the shower maximum. In addition to a review and update of previously published results, we also present new results based on end-to-end simulations including all known instrumental properties. For this, we applied the detector response to radio signals simulated with the CoREAS extension of CORSIKA, and analyzed them in the same way as measured data. Thus, we were able to study the detector performance more accurately than before, including some previously inaccessible features such as the impact of noise on the interferometric cross-correlation beam. These results led to several improvements, which are documented in this paper and can provide useful input for the design of future cosmic-ray experiments based on the digital radio-detection technique.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
The KASCADE and KASCADE-Grande experiments operated in KIT-Campus North, Karlsruhe (Germany) from 1993 to 2012. The two experiments studied primary cosmic rays in the energy range from 10
14
eV to 10
...18
eV, investigating the change of slope of the spectrum detected at 2 - 4 × 10
15
eV, the so called knee. We briefly review the performance of the experiments and then the main results obtained in the operation of both experiments: the test of hadronic interaction models, the all particle primary spectrum, the elemental composition of primary cosmic rays (with the first claim of a knee-like feature of the heavy primaries spectrum) and the search for large scale anisotropies.
KASCADE, together with its extension KASCADE-Grande measured individual air showers of cosmic rays in the primary energy range of 100 TeV to 1 EeV. The data collection was fully completed at the end ...of 2013 and the experiment was dismantled. However, the data analysis is still in progress. Recently, we published a new result on upper limits to the flux of ultra-high energy gamma rays, which set constraints on some fundamental astrophysical models. We also use the data to investigate the validity of the new hadronic interactions models like SIBYLL version 2.3c or EPOS-LHC. In addition, we updated and improved the webbased platform of the KASCADE Cosmic Ray Data Centre (KCDC), where now the data from KASCADE and KASCADE-Grande of more than 20 years measurements is available, including corresponding Monte-Carlo simulated events based on three different hadronic interaction models. In this contribution, recent results from KASCADE-Grande and the update of KCDC is briefly discussed.
In this work, we report measurements on the muon content (E
th
> 230 MeV) of extensive air showers (EAS) induced by cosmic rays with primary energy from 10 PeV up to 1 EeV performed with the ...KASCADE-Grande experiment. The measurements are confronted with SIBYLL 2.3. The results are focused on the dependence of the total muon number and the lateral density distribution of muons in EAS on the zenith angle and the total number of charged particles in the shower. We also present updated results of a detailed study of the attenuation length of shower muons, which reveal a deviation between the measured data and the predictions of the post-LHC hadronic interaction models SIBYLL 2.3, QGSJET-II-04 and EPOS-LHC.
The KASCADE-Grande observatory was a ground-based air shower array dedicated to study the energy and composition of cosmic rays in the energy interval
E
= 1 PeV –1 EeV. The experiment consisted of ...different detector systems which allowed the simultaneous measurement of distinct components of air showers (EAS), such as the muon content. In this contribution, we study the total muon number and the lateral density distribution of muons in EAS detected by KASCADE-Grande as a function of the zenith angle and the total number of charged particles. The attenuation length of the muon content of EAS is also measured. The results are compared with the predictions of the SIBYLL 2.3 high-energy hadronic interaction model.
The KASCADE-Grande experiment has significantly contributed to the current knowledge about the energy spectrum and composition of cosmic rays for energies between the knee and the ankle. Meanwhile, ...post-LHC versions of the hadronic interaction models are available and used to interpret the entire data set of KASCADE-Grande. In addition, a new, combined analysis of both arrays, KASCADE and Grande, was developed significantly increasing the accuracy of the shower observables. First results of the new analysis with the entire data set of the KASCADE-Grande experiment will be the focus of this contribution.
KASCADE-Grande was an air-shower experiment designed to study cosmic rays between 1016 and 1018 eV. The instrument was located at the site of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Germany at an ...altitude of 110 m a.s.l. and covered an area of 0.5 km2. KASCADE-Grande consisted of several detector systems dedicated to measure different components of the EAS generated by the primary cosmic rays, i.e., the muon and the electron contents of the air-shower. With such a number of EAS observables and the precision of the measurements, the KASCADE-Grande data can be used to not only study in detail the properties of cosmic rays but also to test the predictions of hadronic-interaction models. In this work, in particular, the attenuation lengths of the muon number and the charged number of particles of EAS in the atmosphere were extracted from the KASCADE-Grande data and the results were compared with the predictions of the new EPOS-LHC hadronic-interaction model.
With the KASCADE-Grande Muon Tracking Detector it was possible to measure with high accuracy directions of EAS muons with energy above 0.8 GeV and up to 700 m distance from the shower centre. ...Reconstructed muon tracks allow investigation of muon pseudorapidity (η) distributions. These distributions are nearly identical to the pseudorapidity distributions of their parent mesons produced in hadronic interactions. Comparison of the η distributions from measured and simulated showers can be used to test the quality of the high energy hadronic interaction models. The pseudorapidity distributions reflect the longitudinal development of EAS and, as such, are sensitive to the mass of the cosmic ray primary particles. With various parameters of the η distribution, obtained from the Muon Tracking Detector data, it is possible to calculate the average logarithm of mass of the primary cosmic ray particles. The results of the 〈 ln A 〉 analysis in the primary energy range 1016 eV–1017 eV with the 1st quartile and the mean value of the distributions will be presented for the QGSJet-II-2, QGSJet-II-4, EPOS 1.99 and EPOS LHC models in combination with the FLUKA model.
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