Investigation of Hadronic Cross Sections of Cosmic Ray Carbon and Oxygen on BGO from 200 GeV to 10 TeV energy at the DAMPE Experiment

The DArk Matter Particle Explorer (DAMPE) is a satellite-borne detector designed to observe high-energy cosmic rays (CRs). The Bismuth Germanium Oxide (BGO) calorimeter plays a crucial role in these measurements. However, for a calorimetric experiment like DAMPE, uncertainties in hadronic models persist as a major barrier to achieving more accurate measurements of cosmic ray nuclei. This study presents the measurement of the hadronic cross sections of carbon and oxygen nuclei using BGO crystals over an extended energy range, spanning from 200 GeV to 10 TeV. This result allows us to validate the consistency of Monte Carlo models and the experimental data, thereby ensuring the reliability of DAMPE’s observations of carbon and oxygen cosmic-ray fluxes.