Precise measurement of the absolute fluorescence yield of the 337 nm band in atmospheric gases

Abstract

A measurement of the absolute fluorescence yield of the 337 nm nitrogen band, relevant to ultra-high energy cosmic ray (UHECR) detectors, is reported. Two independent calibrations of the fluorescence emission induced by a 120 GeV proton beam were employed: Cherenkov light from the beam particle and calibrated light from a nitrogen laser. The fluorescence yield in air at a pressure of 1013 hPa and temperature of 293 K was found to be $Y_{337}=5.61\pm 0.06_{stat}\pm 0.21_{syst}$ photons/MeV. When compared to the fluorescence yield currently used by UHECR experiments, this measurement improves the uncertainty by a factor of three, and has a significant impact on the determination of the energy scale of the cosmic ray spectrum.

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Cited by in corpus (19)

• The Pierre Auger Cosmic Ray Observatory
• Depth of Maximum of Air-Shower Profiles at the Pierre Auger Observatory: Measurements at Energies above 10^17.8 eV
• Measurement of the cosmic-ray energy spectrum above $2.5\times 10^{18}$ eV using the Pierre Auger Observatory
• Features of the energy spectrum of cosmic rays above $2.5\times 10^{18}$ eV using the Pierre Auger Observatory
• Radio detection of cosmic ray air showers in the digital era
• The Muon Puzzle in cosmic-ray induced air showers and its connection to the Large Hadron Collider
• Depth of Ultra High Energy Cosmic Ray Induced Air Shower Maxima Measured by the Telescope Array Black Rock and Long Ridge FADC Fluorescence Detectors and Surface Array in Hybrid Mode
• Ultra-High-Energy Cosmic Rays: The Intersection of the Cosmic and Energy Frontiers
• The Energy Spectrum of Cosmic Rays above 10${}^{17.2}$ eV Measured by the Fluorescence Detectors of the Telescope Array Experiment in Seven Years
• Highlights from the Pierre Auger Observatory
• Studies of an air-shower imaging system for the detection of ultrahigh-energy neutrinos
• Detection of ultra-high energy cosmic ray showers with a single-pixel fluorescence telescope
• Cosmic Rays from the Ankle to the Cut-Off
• Search for ultrarelativistic magnetic monopoles with the Pierre Auger Observatory
• Measurement of the average shape of longitudinal profiles of cosmic-ray air showers at the Pierre Auger Observatory
• On the absolute value of the air-fluorescence yield
• The First Full-Scale Prototypes of the Fluorescence detector Array of Single-pixel Telescopes
• Binary neutron star mergers as the source of the highest energy cosmic rays
• Past, Present and Future of UHECR Observations