On the absolute value of the air-fluorescence yield

The absolute value of the air-fluorescence yield is a key parameter for the energy reconstruction of extensive air showers registered by fluorescence telescopes. In previous publications, we reported a detailed Monte Carlo simulation of the air-fluorescence generation that allowed the theoretical ev...

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Bibliographic Details
Authors: Rosado Vélez, Jaime, Blanco Ramos, Francisco, Arqueros Martínez, Fernando
Format: article
Publication Date:2014
Country:España
Institution:Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM)
Repository:Docta Complutense
Language:English
OAI Identifier:oai:docta.ucm.es:20.500.14352/34804
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/34804
Access Level:Open access
Keyword:539.1
Electron-impact
Cross-sections
Secondary electrons
Cosmic-rays
Nitrogen
Pressure
Detector
State
Beam
NM
Física nuclear
2207 Física Atómica y Nuclear
Description
Summary:The absolute value of the air-fluorescence yield is a key parameter for the energy reconstruction of extensive air showers registered by fluorescence telescopes. In previous publications, we reported a detailed Monte Carlo simulation of the air-fluorescence generation that allowed the theoretical evaluation of this parameter. This simulation has been upgraded in the present work. As a result, we determined an updated absolute value of the fluorescence yield of 7.9 +/- 2.0 ph/MeV for the band at 337 nm in dry air at 800 hPa and 293 K, in agreement with experimental values. We have also performed a critical analysis of available absolute measurements of the fluorescence yield with the assistance of our simulation. Corrections have been applied to some measurements to account for a bias in the evaluation of the energy deposition. Possible effects of other experimental aspects have also been discussed. From this analysis, we determined an average fluorescence yield of 7.04 +/- 0.24 ph/MeV at the above conditions. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.