Detection of thermal neutrons with the PRISMA-YBJ array in Extensive Air Showers selected by the ARGO-YBJ experiment

Abstract

We report on a measurement of thermal neutrons, generated by the hadronic component of extensive air showers (EAS), by means of a small array of EN-detectors developed for the PRISMA project (PRImary Spectrum Measurement Array), novel devices based on a compound alloy of ZnS(Ag) and ${}^6$LiF. This array has been operated within the ARGO-YBJ experiment at the high altitude Cosmic Ray Observatory in Yangbajing (Tibet, 4300 m a.s.l.). Due to the tight correlation between the air shower hadrons and thermal neutrons, this technique can be envisaged as a simple way to estimate the number of high energy hadrons in EAS. Coincident events generated by primary cosmic rays of energies greater than 100 TeV have been selected and analyzed. The EN-detectors have been used to record simultaneously thermal neutrons and the air shower electromagnetic component. The density distributions of both components and the total number of thermal neutrons have been measured. The correlation of these data with the measurements carried out by ARGO-YBJ confirms the excellent performance of the EN-detector.

arXiv comment35 pages, 16 figures

References in corpus (14)

• KASCADE measurements of energy spectra for elemental groups of cosmic rays: Results and open problems
• The all-particle spectrum of primary cosmic rays in the wide energy range from 10^14 eV to 10^17 eV observed with the Tibet-III air-shower array
• Measurement of the cosmic ray energy spectrum with IceTop-73
• The Knee of the Cosmic Hydrogen and Helium Spectrum below 1 PeV Measured by ARGO-YBJ and a Cherenkov Telescope of LHAASO
• Electron, Muon, and Hadron Lateral Distributions Measured in Air-Showers by the KASCADE Experiment
• Are protons still dominant at the knee of the cosmic-ray energy spectrum?
• Elemental Composition of Cosmic Rays near the Knee by Multiparameter Measurement of Air Showerss
• On the PRISMA Project
• Crab Nebula: five-year observation with ARGO-YBJ
• The cosmic ray proton plus helium energy spectrum measured by the ARGO-YBJ experiment in the energy range 3-300 TeV
• Measurement of the cosmic ray hadron spectrum up to 30 TeV at mountain altitude: the primary proton spectrum
• Energy Spectrum of Cosmic Protons and Helium Nuclei by a Hybrid Measurement at 4300 m a.s.l
• Thermal Neutrons in Eas: A New Dimension in Eas Study
• The analog Resistive Plate Chamber detector of the ARGO-YBJ experiment

Cited by in corpus (5)

• Measurements of the low energy neutron and gamma ray accompaniment of extensive air showers in the knee region of primary cosmic ray spectrum
• Seasonal and Lunar month periods observed in natural neutron flux at high altitude
• Multi-messenger observations of thunderstorm-related bursts of cosmic rays
• Research on the knee region of cosmic ray by using a novel type of electron-neutron detector array
• Study of Stability and Consistency of EAS Thermal Neutron Detection at ENDA-64