期刊
JOURNAL OF PHYSICS G-NUCLEAR AND PARTICLE PHYSICS
卷 48, 期 7, 页码 -出版社
IOP Publishing Ltd
DOI: 10.1088/1361-6471/abfce0
关键词
air showers; imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes; hadronic interaction; cosmic ray proton
资金
- JSPS [JP17K14275, JP20K03985]
- joint research program of the Institute for Cosmic Ray Research (ICRR), the University of Tokyo
IACTs are ground-based detectors for cosmic gamma rays, with rejection of cosmic-ray backgrounds being crucial for sensitivity. Monte Carlo simulations are used to estimate residual background rates and sensitivity. Different hadronic interaction models can lead to significant variations in background rates and estimated gamma-ray sensitivity.
Imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes (IACTs) are ground-based indirect detectors for cosmic gamma rays with energies above tens of GeV. The major backgrounds for gamma-ray observations in IACTs are cosmic-ray charged particles. The capability to reject these backgrounds is the most important factor determining the gamma-ray sensitivity of IACT systems. Monte Carlo simulations are used to estimate the residual background rates and sensitivity of the systems during the design and construction phase. Uncertainties in the modeling of high-energy hadronic interactions of cosmic rays with nuclei in the air propagate into the estimates of residual background rates and subsequently into the estimated instrument sensitivity. We investigate the influence of the difference in the current hadronic interaction models on the estimated gamma-ray sensitivity of the Cherenkov Telescope Array using four interaction models (QGSJET-II-03, QGSJET-II-04, EPOS-LHC, and SIBYLL2.3c) implemented in the air shower simulation tool CORSIKA. Variations in background rates of up to a factor 2 with respect to QGSJET-II-03 are observed between the models, mainly due to differences in the pi (0) production spectrum. These lead to similar to 30% differences in the estimated gamma-ray sensitivity in the 1-30 TeV region, assuming a 50 h observation of a gamma-ray point-like source. The presented results also show that IACTs have a significant capability in the verification of hadronic interaction models.
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