BGO quenching effect on spectral measurements of cosmic-ray nuclei in DAMPE experiment

Abstract

The Dark Matter Particle Explorer (DAMPE) is a satellite-borne detector designed to measure high energy cosmic-rays and $\gamma$-rays. As a key sub-detector of DAMPE, the Bismuth Germanium Oxide (BGO) imaging calorimeter is utilized to measure the particle energy with a high resolution. The nonlinear fluorescence response of BGO for large ionization energy deposition, known as the quenching effect, results in an under-estimate of the energy measurement for cosmic-ray nuclei. In this paper, various models are employed to characterize the BGO quenching factors obtained from the experimental data of DAMPE. Applying the proper quenching model in the detector simulation process, we investigate the tuned energy responses for various nuclei and compare the results based on two different simulation softwares, i.e. GEANT4 and FLUKA. The BGO quenching effect results in a decrease of the measured energy by approximately $2.5\%$ ($5.7\%$) for carbon (iron) at $\sim$10 GeV/n and $<1\%$ above 1 TeV/n, respectively. Accordingly, the correction of the BGO quenching effect leads to an increase of the low-energy flux measurement of cosmic-ray nuclei.

13 pages, 4 figures, to be published in Nuclear Inst. and Methods in Physics Research, A

References in corpus (12)

• Direct detection of a break in the teraelectronvolt cosmic-ray spectrum of electrons and positrons
• The DArk Matter Particle Explorer mission
• Measurement of the cosmic-ray proton spectrum from 40 GeV to 100 TeV with the DAMPE satellite
• Origin of the Cosmic Ray Spectral Hardening
• Measurement of the cosmic ray helium energy spectrum from 70 GeV to 80 TeV with the DAMPE space mission
• Detection of spectral hardenings in cosmic-ray boron-to-carbon and boron-to-oxygen flux ratios with DAMPE
• Search for gamma-ray spectral lines with the DArk Matter Particle Explorer
• Nearby source interpretation of differences among light and medium composition spectra in cosmic rays
• Measurement of ionization quenching in plastic scintillators
• Interpretations of the cosmic ray secondary-to-primary ratios measured by DAMPE
• Light yield non-proportionality of inorganic crystals and its effect on cosmic-ray measurements
• Comparison of proton shower developments in the BGO calorimeter of the Dark Matter Particle Explorer between GEANT4 and FLUKA simulations

Cited by in corpus (2)

• Hadronic cross section measurements with the DAMPE space mission using 20GeV-10TeV cosmic-ray protons and ${}^4$He
• Investigation of hadronic cross sections of cosmic ray carbon and oxygen on BGO from 200 GeV to 10 TeV energy at the DAMPE experiment