Calculated electron fluxes at airplane altitudes

Journal Article · Tue Jun 01 00:00:00 EDT 1993 · Physical Review, D (Particles Fields); (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.47.R4823· OSTI ID:6584467

Schaefer, R K; Gaisser, T K; Stanev, T S ^[1]

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1. Bartol Research Institute, University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware 19716 (United States)

A precision measurement of atmospheric electron fluxes has been performed on a Japanese commercial airliner (Enomoto [ital et] [ital al].). The bulk of these electrons are produced in pairs from the [gamma] rays emitted when [pi][sup 0]'s decay, which in turn have been produced in cosmic-ray--air-nucleus collisions. These electron fluxes can be used to test elements of our atmospheric neutrino flux calculation, i.e., the assumed primary spectrum and the Monte Carlo shower code. Here we have modified the Monte Carlo program which has previously been used to calculate the fluxes of atmospheric neutrinos by combining it with the program GEANT to compute the electromagnetic part of the shower. This hybrid program now keeps track of the electrons produced in cosmic-ray showers as a function of energy and atmospheric depth. We compare our calculated integral fluxes above the experimental threshold energies 1, 2, and 4 GeV for a variety of atmospheric depths and cutoff rigidities. Our results are in good agreement ([similar to] a few %) with the data, but we found we needed to boost the normalization of the primary flux by 12% over the value we had previously used to calculate the atmospheric neutrino flux.

• OSTI ID: 6584467
• Journal Information: Physical Review, D (Particles Fields); (United States), Vol. 47:11; ISSN 0556-2821
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
COSMIC ELECTRONS
COSMIC RAY FLUX
CASCADE SHOWERS
COSMIC SHOWERS
ELECTRON SPECTRA
GEV RANGE 01-10
MONTE CARLO METHOD
CALCULATION METHODS
COSMIC RADIATION
ELECTRONS
ELEMENTARY PARTICLES
ENERGY RANGE
FERMIONS
GEV RANGE
IONIZING RADIATIONS
LEPTONS
RADIATION FLUX
RADIATIONS
SECONDARY COSMIC RADIATION
SHOWERS
SPECTRA
661320* - Auroral
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