Proton-air cross section measurement with the ARGO-YBJ cosmic ray experiment

Journal Article · Sun Nov 01 00:00:00 EDT 2009 · Physical Review. D, Particles Fields

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PHYSREVD.80.092004· OSTI ID:21325449

Aielli, G; Camarri, P; Iuppa, R; Santonico, R ^[1]; Bacci, C; Bussino, S; Celio, P; De Vincenzi, M; James, I; Mari, S M; Montini, P; Pistilli, P ^[2]; Bartoli, B ^[3]; Bernardini, P; Bleve, C; De Mitri, I; Mancarella, G; Martello, D; Zizzi, G ^[4]; Bi, X J ^[5]

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1. Dipartimento di Fisica dell'Universita 'Tor Vergata' - via della Ricerca Scientifica 1 - 00133 Roma (Italy)
2. Dipartimento di Fisica dell'Universita 'Roma Tre' - via della Vasca Navale 84 - 00146 Roma (Italy)
3. Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare - Sezione di Napoli - Complesso Universitario di Monte Sant'Angelo - via Cintia - 80126 Napoli (Italy)
4. Dipartimento di Fisica dell'Universita del Salento - via per Arnesano - 73100 Lecce (Italy)
5. Key Laboratory of Particle Astrophyics - Institute of High Energy Physics - Chinese Academy of Science - P.O. Box 918 - 100049 Beijing (China)

The proton-air cross section in the energy range 1-100 TeV has been measured by the ARGO-YBJ cosmic ray experiment. The analysis is based on the primary cosmic ray flux attenuation for different atmospheric depths (i.e. zenith angles) and exploits the detector capabilities of selecting the shower development stage by means of hit multiplicity, density and lateral profile measurements at ground. The effects of shower fluctuations, the contribution of heavier primaries and the uncertainties of the hadronic interaction models, have been taken into account. The results have been used to estimate the total proton-proton cross section at center-of-mass energies between 70 and 500 GeV, where no accelerator data are currently available.

• OSTI ID: 21325449
• Journal Information: Physical Review. D, Particles Fields, Vol. 80, Issue 9; Other Information: DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevD.80.092004; (c) 2009 The American Physical Society; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0556-2821
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS
ACCELERATORS
ATTENUATION
CENTER-OF-MASS SYSTEM
CROSS SECTIONS
DENSITY
FLUCTUATIONS
GEV RANGE
INTERACTIONS
PRIMARY COSMIC RADIATION
PROTONS
TEV RANGE