$$\gamma $$/hadron discrimination by analysis of the muon lateral distribution and the ALPAQUITA array

Abstract A new method using the muon lateral distribution and an underground muon detector to achieve high discrimination power against hadrons is presented. The method is designed to be applied in the Andes Large-area PArticle detector for Cosmic-ray physics and Astronomy (ALPACA) experiment in Bolivia. This new observatory in the Southern hemisphere has the goal of detecting &gt;100 TeV $$\gamma $$ <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:mi>γ</mml:mi> </mml:math> rays in search for the origins of Galactic cosmic rays. The method uses the weighted sum of the lateral distribution of the muons detected by underground detectors to separate between air showers initiated by cosmic rays and $$\gamma $$ <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:mi>γ</mml:mi> </mml:math> rays. We evaluate the performance of the method through Monte Carlo simulations with CORSIKA and Geant4 and apply the analysis to the prototype of ALPACA, ALPAQUITA. With the application of this method in ALPAQUITA, we achieve an improvement of about 18 % in the energy range from 60 to 100 TeV over the estimated sensitivity using only the total number of muons.

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Journal
Experimental Astronomy
Published
2025-02-01
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10686-025-09981-z
Primary Topic
Astrophysics and Cosmic Phenomena
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00

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article

$$\gamma $$/hadron discrimination by analysis of the muon lateral distribution and the ALPAQUITA array

R. Mayta, A. Jiménez-Meza, Kenta Goto, Yoshiaki Nakamura et al.
Experimental Astronomy
Astrophysics and Cosmic Phenomena
article

$$\gamma $$/hadron discrimination by analysis of the muon lateral distribution and the ALPAQUITA array

R. Mayta, A. Jiménez-Meza, Kenta Goto, Yoshiaki Nakamura, Tomohisa Kawashima, Y. Katayose, E. De la Fuente, T. Sako, M. Ohnishi, M. Raljevic, P. Miranda, Y. Hayashi, R. Usui, K. Hibino, Iván Toledano–Juárez, K. Kawata, Shinsuke Kato, A. Shiomi, K. Yamazaki, S. Okukawa, S. Ogio, M. Anzorena, C. Kato, T. Makishima, Yasuo Noguchi, M. Subieta, Y. Tameda, K. Fujita, K. Munakata, S. Shibata, F. Sugimoto, W. Takano, Hiroshi Tsuchiya, Akira Mizuno, R. Murillo Garcia, Y. Tsunesada, M. Nishizawa, M. Takita, T. Koi, S. Udo, H. Rivera, Y. Masuda, N. Tajima, Shinpei Matsuhashi, H. Kojima, A. Oshima, R. Ticona, T. Shibasaki, N. Hotta, Y. Yokoe, M. Matsumoto, G. Imaizumi, K. Tanaka, G. Yamagishi, T. Saito
article en

Abstract

Abstract A new method using the muon lateral distribution and an underground muon detector to achieve high discrimination power against hadrons is presented. The method is designed to be applied in the Andes Large-area PArticle detector for Cosmic-ray physics and Astronomy (ALPACA) experiment in Bolivia. This new observatory in the Southern hemisphere has the goal of detecting &gt;100 TeV $$\gamma $$ <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:mi>γ</mml:mi> </mml:math> rays in search for the origins of Galactic cosmic rays. The method uses the weighted sum of the lateral distribution of the muons detected by underground detectors to separate between air showers initiated by cosmic rays and $$\gamma $$ <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:mi>γ</mml:mi> </mml:math> rays. We evaluate the performance of the method through Monte Carlo simulations with CORSIKA and Geant4 and apply the analysis to the prototype of ALPACA, ALPAQUITA. With the application of this method in ALPAQUITA, we achieve an improvement of about 18 % in the energy range from 60 to 100 TeV over the estimated sensitivity using only the total number of muons.

Experimental AstronomyVol. 59(1)
Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JP), Universidad Mayor de San Andrés (BO), Shinshu University (JP), Yokohama National University (JP), National Institute of Informatics (JP), Chubu University (JP), Osaka Electro-Communication University (JP), Universidad de Guadalajara (MX), Utsunomiya University (JP), Nagano Prefectural Ueda Senior High School (JP), Osaka City University (JP), Kanagawa University (JP), Nippon Soken (Japan) (JP), RIKEN (JP), Kavli Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe (JP), Osaka University of Tourism (JP), Tokyo Metropolitan Industrial Technology Research Institute (JP), College of Industrial Technology (JP), Hiroshima City University (JP)
Universidad de Guadalajara, University of Tokyo, Toray Science Foundation, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Institute for Cosmic Ray Research, University of Tokyo
Openalex Percentile: Top 99%
Astrophysics and Cosmic Phenomena
DOIOpen Access PDFOpenAlex
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