Unit:
Τομέας Αστροφυσικής, Αστρονομίας και ΜηχανικήςLibrary of the School of Science
Author:
Κουτσοκώστα Δήμητρα
Dissertation committee:
Αναπλ. Καθηγητής Αθανάσιος Γεράνιος (επιβλέπων), , Αναπλ. Καθηγητής Απόστολος Μαστιχιάδης, Καθηγητής Ξενοφών Μουσάς
Original Title:
Μελέτη Κοσμικών Σωματιδίων Υπερυψηλών Ενεργειών
Translated title:
Study of Ultra High Energy Cosmic Rays
Summary:
The work described in this thesis concerns the estimation of the primary energy
of an Ultra High Energy Cosmic Rays’ particle, creating an Extensive Air Shower
in the atmosphere of the Earth. Firstly, the origin and propagation models for
cosmic rays in this energy range are presented and the phenomenology of
Extensive Air Showers is described. After a brief presentation of the current
experiments in the field, two empirical methods based in Monte Carlo
simulations are presented: the first method estimates the primary energy using
observational data from the surface detector of the Pierre Auger Observatory.
The method refers to various types of primary particles (protons, nuclei and
photons). The second method is based on the Cherenkov radiation recorded by
Cherenkov telescope arrays and estimates the primary energy of the shower using
Cherenkov photons’ density at a given radius from the core of the shower. This
method can make use of the data recorded by low energy γ-ray photons’
experiments, used for sky mapping.
Keywords:
Ultra High Energy Cosmic Rays, Energy estimation, Extensive Air Showers, Lateral distribution, Cherenkov radiation
Number of index pages:
16-22
