Characterization of the atmospheric muon flux in IceCube

6533b831fe1ef96bd1299a1c

RESEARCH PRODUCT

Characterization of the atmospheric muon flux in IceCube

C. Pérez De Los Heros M. Day Julian Kemp N. A. Stanisha J. Feintzeig Joshua Pepper T. Anderson K.-h. Becker M. Schimp Javier Gonzalez P. Gretskov Yiqian Xu Matt Dunkman Giorgio Maggi T. Fischer-wasels M. Lesiak-bzdak P. Redl A. Schukraft C. De Clercq E. Cheung E. Middell Elisa Bernardini Dirk Ryckbosch Sander Vanheule Markus Ackermann S. W. Barwick L. Schulte D. Heereman Larissa Paul F. Scheriau Karim Ghorbani M. J. Larson Albrecht Karle A. Schönwald D. Altmann G. Golup R. Gaior P. B. Price N. Kurahashi Todor Stanev Dawn Williams C. Wendt G. Merino N. Wandkowsky L. Sabbatini G. De Wasseige Jenni Adams Carlos Arguelles K. Wiebe T. O. B. Schmidt S. Hickford K. Schatto G. Kohnen Surujhdeo Seunarine J. Miller J. Leuner R. G. Stokstad Kirill Filimonov R. Hoffmann R. Nahnhauer S. Tilav C. Walck R. Eagan S. Schoenen Delia Tosi M. G. Aartsen Juanan Aguilar T. R. Wood Kurt Woschnagg Thorsten Glusenkamp L. Classen L. Mohrmann S. Yoshida Segev Benzvi Thomas K. Gaisser G. B. Yodh M. Stamatikos J. Pütz E. A. Strahler M. Relich B. Christy M. W. E. Smith Paul Evenson K. Rawlins W. Huelsnitz A. Ishihara Spencer Klein Spencer Klein J. Becker Tjus Anatoli Fedynitch M. Kroll A. Goldschmidt Hermann Kolanoski L. Brayeur K. Helbing James Madsen N. Van Eijndhoven C. Haack Dmitry Chirkin B. Kaminsky I. Taboada J. Veenkamp D. Z. Besson K. D. De Vries Alexander Kappes S. Flis Kara Hoffman A. H. Cruz Silva A. O'murchadha M. N. Tobin B. Hansmann A. Koob Timo Karg Gerald Przybylski E. Beiser A. Omairat M. Zoll M. Jurkovic H.-p. Bretz Killian Holzapfel A. Christov D. J. Koskinen Carsten Rott Teresa Montaruli D. R. Nygren M. Quinnan Frank Mcnally Hershal Pandya K. Meagher A. Stasik Nathan Whitehorn M. Bissok Wolfgang Rhode A. Meli Kendall Mahn M. Kauer M. Kauer R. Konietz E. Middlemas G. Kroll M. Glagla P. Berghaus Xianwu Xu Marek Kowalski J. Blumenthal K. Hultqvist B. Riedel Joshua Hignight J. Kläs M. E. Huber T. Menne C. Bohm Maria Tselengidou S. Schöneberg L. Rädel L. Gerhardt L. Gerhardt Darren Grant Olga Botner J. Kunnen Ch. Weaver M. Vehring K. Hoshina S. Böser J. Auffenberg C. Ha C. Ha Carl Pfendner V. Baum Chad Finley A. Obertacke Glenn Spiczak Sarah Nowicki Damian Pieloth K. Mase Ali Kheirandish D. F. Cowen J. P. A. M. De André A. M. Brown S. Euler U. Naumann Mohamed Rameez E. Unger M. Wallraff T. Fuchs L. Köpke T. Stezelberger M. Voge S. M. Saba A. Bernhard D. Hellwig Christian Spiering Justin Vandenbroucke Mike Richman Kael Hanson A. Olivas M. Stahlberg A. Haj Ismail N. Buzinsky A. Terliuk S. Westerhoff F. Huang M. Usner Justin Lanfranchi M. Börner J. Kiryluk Martin Rongen J. Casey Matthias Vraeghe L. Wille P. O. Hulth Hans Niederhausen René Reimann Björn Eichmann H. Wissing R. Hellauer Paolo Desiati Daniel Bindig T. C. Arlen R. Ström X. Bai Sally Robertson Alexander Sandrock B. J. Whelan K. Clark J. Felde J. L. Kelley Markus Ahlers Samvel Ter-antonyan K. Krings Ramesh Koirala Dennis Soldin H. Taavola E. Blaufuss D. J. Boersma J. C. Davis S. De Ridder M. Labare Maryon Ahrens M. Medici S. Coenders Thomas Meures N. L. Strotjohann A. R. Fazely E. Pinat Donglian Xu Subir Sarkar Subir Sarkar R. Maunu T. Kuwabara J. C. Groh C. Kopper E. Jacobi Joakim Sandroos Azadeh Keivani A. Homeier M. Casier Christopher Wiebusch J. Daughhetee J. P. Yanez J. Lünemann R. C. Bay G. W. Sullivan D. Berley G. C. Hill James E. Braun Rezo Shanidze Juan Carlos Diaz-velez M. Archinger L. Gladstone J. J. Beatty D. Seckel S. Fahey S. Miarecki S. Miarecki J. C. Gallagher Tyce Deyoung P. A. Toale M. Leuermann J. Posselt F. Bos A. Stößl Tim Ruhe Allan Hallgren Sandro Kopper Reina H. Maruyama M. Schmitz K. Jero Sofia Vallecorsa D. Hebecker Matthias Wolf Thomas Ehrhardt Andrea Turcati J. Van Santen H. G. Sander Gary Binder Gary Binder Axel Groß George Japaridze Seongjin In Elisa Resconi M. S. Sutherland G. Tešić S. Richter D. Gier D. Bose J. P. Dumm T. Palczewski C. Wichary B. Eberhardt H. S. Matis K. Abraham Francis Halzen P. Zarzhitsky O. Fadiran R. Morse H. Dembinski Dariusz Gora

subject

Prompt leptons lepton Atmospheric muons; Cosmic rays; Prompt leptons; Astronomy and Astrophysics Physics::Instrumentation and Detectors Hadron Atmospheric muons primary [cosmic radiation]PROTON 01 natural sciences IceCube surface [detector]atmosphere [muon]NEUTRINO TELESCOPE production [muon]Physics High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena (astro-ph.HE)ELEMENTAL GROUPS Detector model [interaction]Astrophysics::Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics COSMIC-RAY MUONS ENERGY-SPECTRUM vector meson statistics INTRINSIC CHARM ddc:540 Physique des particules élémentaires high [energy]Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena atmosphere [showers]Atmosperic muons exceptional air flux [muon]Astrophysics::High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena spectrum [multiplicity]energy spectrum FOS: Physical sciences Cosmic ray atmosphere [cosmic radiation]Nuclear physics cosmic rays 0103 physical sciences ARRIVAL DIRECTIONS Vector meson 010306 general physics Cosmic rays Zenith ANISOTROPY Muon 010308 nuclear & particles physics Astronomy and Astrophysics Spectral component tracks MODEL Physics and Astronomy 13. Climate action TEV spectral High Energy Physics::Experiment hadron Lepton

description

Muons produced in atmospheric cosmic ray showers account for the by far dominant part of the event yield in large-volume underground particle detectors. The IceCube detector, with an instrumented volume of about a cubic kilometer, has the potential to conduct unique investigations on atmospheric muons by exploiting the large collection area and the possibility to track particles over a long distance. Through detailed reconstruction of energy deposition along the tracks, the characteristics of muon bundles can be quantified, and individual particles of exceptionally high energy identified. The data can then be used to constrain the cosmic ray primary flux and the contribution to atmospheric lepton fluxes from prompt decays of short-lived hadrons. In this paper, techniques for the extraction of physical measurements from atmospheric muon events are described and first results are presented. The multiplicity spectrum of TeV muons in cosmic ray air showers for primaries in the energy range from the knee to the ankle is derived and found to be consistent with recent results from surface detectors. The single muon energy spectrum is determined up to PeV energies and shows a clear indication for the emergence of a distinct spectral component from prompt decays of short-lived hadrons. The magnitude of the prompt flux, which should include a substantial contribution from light vector meson di-muon decays, is consistent with current theoretical predictions. The variety of measurements and high event statistics can also be exploited for the evaluation of systematic effects. In the course of this study, internal inconsistencies in the zenith angle distribution of events were found which indicate the presence of an unexplained effect outside the currently applied range of detector systematics. The underlying cause could be related to the hadronic interaction models used to describe muon production in air showers.

year	journal	country	edition	language
2015-06-26

10.1016/j.astropartphys.2016.01.006 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.astropartphys.2016.01.006