The impact of the fluorescence yield on the reconstructed shower parameters of ultra-high energy cosmic rays

M. Monasor (1, 2, 3) , J.R. Vázquez (1) , D. García-Pinto (1) , F. Arqueros (1)

1 Departamento de Física Atómica
2 Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics [Chicago]
3 KICP - Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics [Chicago]

An accurate knowledge of the fluorescence yield and its dependence on atmospheric properties such as pressure, temperature or humidity is essential to obtain a reliable measurement of the primary energy of cosmic rays in experiments using the fluorescence technique. In this work, several sets of fluorescence yield data (i.e. absolute value and quenching parameters) are described and compared. A simple procedure to study the effect of the assumed fluorescence yield on the reconstructed shower parameters (energy and shower maximum depth) as a function of the primary features has been developed. As an application, the effect of water vapor and temperature dependence of the collisional cross section on the fluorescence yield and its impact on the reconstruction of primary energy and shower maximum depth has been studied.

Mots clés: Cosmic rays; extensive air showers; fluorescence yield; atmospheric properties

Domaines: Cosmologie et astrophysique extra-galactique [astro-ph.CO]; Cosmologie et astrophysique extra-galactique [astro-ph.CO]

M. Monasor, J.R. Vázquez, D. García-Pinto, F. Arqueros. The impact of the fluorescence yield on the reconstructed shower parameters of ultra-high energy cosmic rays. Astroparticle Physics, 2010, 34 (6), pp.467. ⟨10.1016/j.astropartphys.2010.10.009⟩. ⟨hal-00710478⟩