On the Measurement of Cosmic-Ray Spectral Kink
Abstract
Theoretical arguments based on supernovae shock acceleration suggest that the maximum energy cosmic ray particles can obtain is charge dependent with E_max ≈ Z × 10^14 eV. In order to better understand the physics of acceleration, it is necessary to measure the spectrum of each cosmic ray component and to determine accurately the ``knee'' in the spectrum. How well the spectral change can be measured depends on the characteristic of the spectral break and the performance of the measuring instrument. The former includes how sharp the break is at the to-be-determined crossover energy. The latter includes the energy resolution and its energy dependence, as well as the charge resolution, which is affected by both the backscatter rejection power and the trajectory resolution. Here we discuss the constraints that various functional forms of the energy resolution impose on our ability to resolve the spectral break and to measure accurately the crossover energy.
- Publication:
-
APS April Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- April 1998
- Bibcode:
- 1998APS..APR..M710S