Simulation of atmospheric temperature effects on cosmic ray muon flux

Stefano Castro Tognini, Ricardo Avelino Gomes

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

Abstract

The collision between a cosmic ray and an atmosphere nucleus produces a set of secondary particles, which will decay or interact with other atmosphere elements. This set of events produced a primary particle is known as an extensive air shower (EAS) and is composed by a muonic, a hadronic and an electromagnetic component. The muonic flux, produced mainly by pions and kaons decays, has a dependency with the atmosphere's effective temperature: an increase in the effective temperature results in a lower density profile, which decreases the probability of pions and kaons to interact with the atmosphere and, consequently, resulting in a major number of meson decays. Such correlation between the muon flux and the atmosphere's effective temperature was measured by a set of experiments, such as AMANDA, Borexino, MACRO and MINOS. This phenomena can be investigated by simulating the final muon flux produced by two different parameterizations of the isothermal atmospheric model in CORSIKA, where each parameterization is described by a depth function which can be related to the muon flux in the same way that the muon flux is related to the temperature. This research checks the agreement among different high energy hadronic interactions models and the physical expected behavior of the atmosphere temperature effect by analyzing a set of variables, such as the height of the primary interaction and the difference in the muon flux.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationNuINT 2012
Subtitle of host publicationThe 8th International Workshop on Neutrino-Nucleus Interactions in the Few-GeV Region
EditorsJorge G. Morfin, Makoto Sakuda, Helio da Motta
PublisherAmerican Institute of Physics Inc.
ISBN (Electronic)9780735413085
DOIs
StatePublished - May 15 2015
Externally publishedYes
Event8th International Workshop on Neutrino-Nucleus Interactions in the Few-GeV Region, NuINT 2012 - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Duration: Oct 22 2012Oct 27 2012

Publication series

NameAIP Conference Proceedings
Volume1663
ISSN (Print)0094-243X
ISSN (Electronic)1551-7616

Conference

Conference8th International Workshop on Neutrino-Nucleus Interactions in the Few-GeV Region, NuINT 2012
Country/TerritoryBrazil
CityRio de Janeiro
Period10/22/1210/27/12

Keywords

  • CORSIKA
  • muon flux
  • seasonal
  • simulation

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Simulation of atmospheric temperature effects on cosmic ray muon flux'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this