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Energy sensitivity of the GRAPES-3 EAS array for primary cosmic ray protons

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Abstract

Low energy ground-based cosmic ray air shower experiments generally have energy threshold in the range of a few tens to a few hundreds of TeV. The shower observables are measured indirectly with an array of detectors. The atmospheric absorption of low energy secondaries limits their detection frequencies at the Earth’s surface. However, due to selection effects, a tiny fraction of low energy showers, which are produced in the lower atmosphere can reach the observational level. But, due to less information of shower observables, the reconstruction of these showers are arduous. Hence, it is believed that direct measurements by experiments aboard on satellites and balloon flights are more reliable at low energies. Despite having very small efficiency (\(\sim \)0.1%) at low energies, the large acceptance (\(\sim \)5m2sr) of GRAPES-3 experiment allows observing primary cosmic rays down below to \(\sim \)1TeV and opens up the possibility to measure primary energy spectrum spanning from a few TeV to beyond cosmic ray knee (up to 1016eV), covering five orders of magnitude. The GRAPES-3 energy threshold for primary protons through Monte Carlo simulations are calculated, which gives reasonably good agreement with data. Furthermore, the total efficiencies and acceptance are also calculated for protons primaries. The ability of GRAPES-3 experiment to cover such a broader energy range may provide a unique handle to bridge the energy spectrum between direct measurements at low energies and indirect measurements at ultra-high energies.

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Acknowledgements

We thank D.B. Arjunan, A.S. Bosco, V. Jeyakumar, S. Kingston, N.K. Lokre, K. Manjunath, S. Murugapandian, S. Pandurangan, B. Rajesh, K. Ramadass, R. Ravi, V. Santhoshkumar, S. Sathyaraj, M.S. Shareef, C. Shobana, R. Sureshkumar, and other colleagues for their help in running and maintenance of the GRAPES-3 experiment. We thank the anonymous reviewer for the careful reading and recommendation for publishing our paper.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. The GRAPES-3 Experiment, Cosmic Ray Laboratory, Raj Bhavan, Ooty, 643001, India

    B. Hariharan, S. Ahmad, M. Chakraborty, A. Chandra, S. R. Dugad, S. K. Gupta, Y. Hayashi, H. Kojima, P. Jagadeesan, A. Jain, P. Jain, V. B. Jhansi, S. Kawakami, P. K. Mohanty, S. D. Morris, P. K. Nayak, A. Oshima, D. Pattanaik, P. S. Rakshe, K. Ramesh, B. S. Rao, L. V. Reddy, S. Shibata, F. Varsi & M. Zuberi

  2. Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Dr Homi Bhabha Road, Mumbai, 400005, India

    B. Hariharan, M. Chakraborty, S. R. Dugad, S. K. Gupta, P. Jagadeesan, A. Jain, V. B. Jhansi, P. K. Mohanty, S. D. Morris, P. K. Nayak, D. Pattanaik, P. S. Rakshe, K. Ramesh, B. S. Rao & L. V. Reddy

  3. Post Graduate & Research Department of Physics, The American College, Madurai, 625002, India

    B. Hariharan & S. S. R. Inbanathan

  4. Department of Applied Science, The American College, Madurai, 625002, India

    S. S. R. Inbanathan

  5. Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, 202002, India

    S. Ahmad, A. Chandra & M. Zuberi

  6. Graduate School of Science, Osaka City University, 558-8585, Osaka, Japan

    Y. Hayashi & S. Kawakami

  7. College of Engineering, Chubu University, Kasugai, Aichi, 487-8501, Japan

    H. Kojima, A. Oshima & S. Shibata

  8. Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, Kanpur, 208016, India

    P. Jain & F. Varsi

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  1. B. Hariharan
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Correspondence to B. Hariharan or S. S. R. Inbanathan.

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Hariharan, B., Ahmad, S., Chakraborty, M. et al. Energy sensitivity of the GRAPES-3 EAS array for primary cosmic ray protons. Exp Astron 50, 185–198 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10686-020-09671-y

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