The Cosmic Ray p+He energy spectrum in the 3-3000 TeV energy range measured by ARGO-YBJ

TL;DR

This paper reports on the measurement of the cosmic ray proton and helium energy spectrum from 3 TeV to 3000 TeV using the ARGO-YBJ detector, providing insights into high-energy cosmic ray composition.

Contribution

It presents a detailed measurement of the light component spectrum of cosmic rays in a wide energy range using a novel unfolding method with the ARGO-YBJ detector.

Findings

Measured the p+He spectrum from 3 to 3000 TeV.

Used a two-dimensional unfolding method based on Bayes' theorem.

Provided data to improve understanding of cosmic ray origins.

Abstract

The ARGO-YBJ experiment is a full coverage air shower detector operated at the Yangbajing International Cosmic Ray Observatory. The detector has been in stable data taking in its full configuration since November 2007 to February 2013. The high altitude and the high segmentation and spacetime resolution offer the possibility to explore the cosmic ray energy spectrum in a very wide range, from a few TeV up to the PeV region. The high segmentation allows a detailed measurement of the lateral distribution, which can be used in order to discriminate showers produced by light and heavy elements. In this work we present the measurement of the cosmic ray light component spectrum in the energy range 3-3000 TeV. The analysis has been carried out by using a two-dimensional unfolding method based on the Bayes' theorem.