Change in the mass composition of primary cosmic radiation at energies in the range of E0 = 1-100 PeV according to data of the KASCADE-Grande experiment

TL;DR

This study analyzes the change in mass composition of primary cosmic radiation between 1-100 PeV using a new method, revealing spectrum irregularities and supporting the light nuclei knee hypothesis.

Contribution

The paper introduces the Smin-max method for estimating cosmic ray composition from extensive air shower data, providing new insights into spectral irregularities.

Findings

Spectral exponent for light nuclei increases from 2.1 to 2.7.

Spectral exponent for heavy nuclei increases from 1.5 to 2.1.

Spectrum features support the light nuclei knee hypothesis.

Abstract

The change in the fluxes of the lightest and heaviest nuclei in the mass composition of primary cosmic radiation in the energy range of E0 = 1-100 PeV is analyzed on the basis of data from the KASCADE-Grande experiment. This analysis is performed by means of the min-max age (Smin-max) method for extensive air showers (EAS) that is proposed in the present article. This method makes it possible to estimate the exponents of the spectra for the lightest and heaviest nuclei in the mass composition of primary cosmic radiation and to study irregularities in these spectra at energies E0 in the range under consideration. The Smin-max method for estimating the mass composition of primary cosmic radiation is based on a sizable sample (more than 100 million events) of data on EAS features in the range of E0 = 1-100 PeV from the KASCADE-Grande experiment. It is shown that, in the primary-energy range of E0 = 1-100 PeV, the exponent in the integrated spectrum changes from 2.1 to 2.7 for the lightest nuclei in the mass composition of primary cosmic radiation and from 1.5 to 2.1 for the heaviest nuclei. These results comply with the conclusion drawn by the KASCADE-Grande Collaboration that the knee in the E0 spectrum of nuclei of primary cosmic radiation in the range of E0 = 3-5 PeV is due to the elimination of light nuclei. The bump appearing in the E0 spectrum of primary cosmic radiation according to the database of the KASCADE-Grande experiment and lying in the range of E0 = 50-75 PeV is analyzed by the Smin-max method and is found to agree with data of the GAMMA (GAMMA-07) experiment.