Revision of the energy calibration of the Yakutsk EAS array

TL;DR

This paper recalibrates the energy measurements of the Yakutsk array for ultra-high-energy cosmic ray showers using multiple hadronic interaction models, resulting in a lower estimated primary energy than previous methods.

Contribution

It presents a revised energy calibration for the Yakutsk array based on detailed detector response calculations across several hadronic models.

Findings

Estimated primary energy E0 is about 1.33 times lower than previous estimates.

Different hadronic models yield consistent energy recalibrations.

Provides a new standard for energy estimation in cosmic ray studies.

Abstract

Responses of surface and underground scintillation detectors of Yakutsk array are calculated for showers initiated by primary particles with energy E0>=1.0E17 eV within the frameworks of QGSJet01 QGSIIJet-II-04, SIBYLL-2.1 and EPOS-LHC hadron interaction models. A new estimation of E0 is obtained with the use of various methods. The resulting energy is lower compared to the obtained with earlier method by factor ~1.33.