The Cosmic Ray Energy Spectrum from 1014 to 1016 eV
Abstract
High statistics measurements with the surface and buried scintillator arrays of the CASA-MIA experiment show the cosmic ray spectral knee to be a smooth transition. The measured all-particle differential energy 2 66 02 10 spectrum is a power law (dj =dE E , ) with a spectral index = : +/- : below 15 eV, steepening to 3 00 05 10 = : +/- : near 16 eV. The smooth change results from using a new energy reconstruction algorithm which is insensitive to the nuclear composition of the primary particles. The observed shape of the spectrum is consistent with the composition becoming heavier through the knee region.
- Publication:
-
26th International Cosmic Ray Conference (ICRC26), Volume 3
- Pub Date:
- August 1999
- Bibcode:
- 1999ICRC....3..199G