https://doi.org/10.1140/epjcd/s2004-03-1632-2
PS12 Particle Astrophysics (cosmic rays)
Energy spectrum and elemental composition of cosmic rays in the PeV region
1
Institut für Experimentelle Kernphysik, Universität Karlsruhe, 76021 Karlsruhe, Germany
2
Institut für Kernphysik, Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe, 76021 Karlsruhe, Germany
3
Dipartimento di Fisica Generale dell’Università, 10125 Torino, Italy
4
National Institute of Physics and Nuclear Engineering, 7690 Bucharest, Romania
5
Fachbereich Physik, Universität Siegen, 57072 Siegen, Germany
6
Cosmic Ray Division, Yerevan Physics Institute, Yerevan 36, Armenia
7
Istituto di Fisica dello Spazio Interplanetario, CNR, 10133 Torino, Italy
8
Fachbereich Physik, Universität Wuppertal, 42097 Wuppertal, Germany
9
Soltan Institute for Nuclear Studies, 90950 Lodz, Poland
Received:
12
October
2003
Accepted:
22
January
2004
Published online:
3
February
2004
KASCADE (KArlsruhe Shower Core and Array DEtector) is determining flux spectra for different primary mass groups to disentangle the knee feature of the primary cosmic-ray energy spectrum. The energy spectra of the light element groups result in a knee-like bending and a steepening above the knee. The topology of the individual knee positions suggests a rigidity dependence. To proof the rigidity dependence the KASCADE array is now extended by a factor 10 in area. The major goal of KASCADE-Grande is the observation of the ’iron-knee’ in the cosmic-ray spectrum at around 100 PeV which is expected following the KASCADE observations.
PACS: 98.70.Sa Cosmic rays
© Società Italiana di Fisica, Springer-Verlag, 2004