Study of Cherenkov light lateral distribution function around the knee region in extensive air showers

Abstract

The Cherenkov light lateral distribution function (LDF) was simulated with the CORSIKAcode in the energy range (1013 - 1016) eV. This simulation was performed for conditions and configurations of the Tunka EAS Cherenkov array for the two primary particles (p and Fe). Basing on the simulated results, many approximated functions are structured for two primary particles and different zenith angles. This allowed us to reconstruct the EAS events, which is, to determine the type and energy of the primary particles that produced showers from signal amplitudes of Cherenkov radiation measured by the Tunka Cherenkov array experiment. Comparison of the calculated LDF of Cherenkov radiation with that measured at the Tunka EAS array shows the ability to identify the primary particle that initiated the EAS cascades by determining its primary energy around the knee region of the cosmic ray spectrum.

Keywords

• cosmic rays
• methods: numerical