THE LATERAL DENSITY DISTRIBUTION OF ELECTRONS NEAR THE CORE OF EXTENSIVE AIR SHOWERS

Thesis/Dissertation · Mon Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1962

OSTI ID:4695352

LaPointe, Jr, M H

An array of 27 large, electron-pulse ionization chambers was used to study the density structure, near the core, of cosmic ray air showers at 300 meters altitude. Single cored events, in which the distribution near the axis varied widely, were analyzed. Expressed as a power of the radial distance, events were found which were as peaked as (r/R/sub 0/)/sup -1.2/ and as flat as (r/R/sub 0/)/sup -0.5/ where R/sub 0/, the scattering unit, is about 80 m at the altitude of observation. The events were compared with Greisen's approximation of the Nishimura-Kamata distribution, which has been found to agree well with experimental observations. The number of particles in these cores could be estimated fairly accurately only up to 0.1 R/sub 0/ from the axis and ranged from 5 x 10/sup 3/ to 10s/sup 5/ particles. The size estimates of the total number of particles in these events (based on the NishimuraKamata distribution) ranged from 3 x 10/sup 4/ to 10/sub 5/ particles. Nine showers were observed with two or more cores separated by as much as 2.5 meters. Four of these events gave evidence that the individual cores were not radially symmetric about their axis. The particle denstty seemed to fall off more steeply between the cores. Based on e-p cascade theory, the fact that 20% of the events were at least as peaked as (r/ R/sub 0/)/sup -1/ strongly indicates the frequent occurrence of nuclear interactions of the order of 10/sup 13/ ev occurring at altitudes of 5 km or lower, and favors the concept of high elasticity with the primary particle surviving to low altitudes. (Dissertation Abstr.)

• Research Organization: Originating Research Org. not identified
• NSA Number: NSA-17-026278
• OSTI ID: 4695352
• Country of Publication: Country unknown/Code not available
• Language: English

Related Subjects

ATMOSPHERE
COSMIC RADIATION
DISTRIBUTION
ELECTRONS
ENERGY RANGE
EXTENSIVE AIR SHOWERS
INTERACTIONS
IONIZATION CHAMBERS
LATTICES
LEVELS
MEASURED VALUES
NUCLEONS
PHOTONS
PHYSICS
SCATTERING
TEV RANGE