Comparison of measured and simulated lateral distributions for electrons and muons with KASCADE

Abstract

Lateral distributions for electrons and muons in extensive air showers measured with the array of the KASCADE experiment are compared to results of simulations based on the high-energy hadronic interaction models QGSJet and SIBYLL. It is shown, that the muon distributions are well described by both models. Deviations are found for the electromagnetic component, where both models predict a steeper lateral shape than observed in the data. For both models the observed lateral shapes of the electron component indicate a transition from a light to a more heavy composition of the cosmic ray spectrum above the knee.

27 pages, accepted for publication in Astropart. Phys

References in corpus (2)

• KASCADE measurements of energy spectra for elemental groups of cosmic rays: Results and open problems
• Model Dependence of Lateral Distribution Functions of High Energy Cosmic Ray Air Showers

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