Measurement of the TeV atmospheric muon charge ratio with the complete OPERA data set

N. Agafonova; A. Aleksandrov; A. Anokhina; S. Aoki; A. Ariga; T. Ariga; D. Bender; A. Bertolin; C. Bozza; R. Brugnera; A. Buonaura; S. Buontempo; B. Büttner; M. Chernyavsky; A. Chukanov; L. Consiglio; N. D’Ambrosio; G. De Lellis; M. De Serio; P. Del Amo Sanchez; A. Di Crescenzo; D. Di Ferdinando; N. Di Marco; S. Dmitrievski; M. Dracos; D. Duchesneau; S. Dusini; T. Dzhatdoev; J. Ebert; A. Ereditato; R. A. Fini; T. Fukuda; G. Galati; A. Garfagnini; G. Giacomelli; C. Göllnitz; J. Goldberg; Y. Gornushkin; G. Grella; M. Guler; C. Gustavino; C. Hagner; T. Hara; A. Hollnagel; B. Hosseini; H. Ishida; K. Ishiguro; K. Jakovcic; C. Jollet; C. Kamiscioglu; M. Kamiscioglu; J. Kawada; J. H. Kim; S. H. Kim; N. Kitagawa; B. Klicek; K. Kodama; M. Komatsu; U. Kose; I. Kreslo; A. Lauria; J. Lenkeit; A. Ljubicic; A. Longhin; P. Loverre; A. Malgin; M. Malenica; G. Mandrioli; T. Matsuo; V. Matveev; N. Mauri; E. Medinaceli; A. Meregaglia; S. Mikado; P. Monacelli; M. C. Montesi; K. Morishima; M. T. Muciaccia; N. Naganawa; T. Naka; M. Nakamura; T. Nakano; Y. Nakatsuka; K. Niwa; S. Ogawa; N. Okateva; A. Olshevsky; T. Omura; K. Ozaki; A. Paoloni; B. D. Park; I. G. Park; L. Pasqualini; A. Pastore; L. Patrizii; H. Pessard; C. Pistillo; D. Podgrudkov; N. Polukhina; M. Pozzato; F. Pupilli; M. Roda; H. Rokujo; T. Roganova; G. Rosa; O. Ryazhskaya; O. Sato; A. Schembri; I. Shakiryanova; T. Shchedrina; A. Sheshukov; H. Shibuya; T. Shiraishi; G. Shoziyoev; S. Simone; M. Sioli; C. Sirignano; G. Sirri; M. Spinetti; L. Stanco; N. Starkov; S. M. Stellacci; M. Stipcevic; P. Strolin; S. Takahashi; M. Tenti; F. Terranova; V. Tioukov; S. Tufanli; P. Vilain; M. Vladimirov; L. Votano; J. L. Vuilleumier; G. Wilquet; B. Wonsak; C. S. Yoon; S. Zemskova; A. Zghiche

doi:10.1140/epjc/s10052-014-2933-0

2021 Impact factor 4.991

Particles and Fields

Open Access

Eur. Phys. J. C (2014) 74: 2933
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjc/s10052-014-2933-0

Regular Article - Experimental Physics

To the memory of Prof. G. Giacomelli.

N. Agafonova¹, A. Aleksandrov², A. Anokhina³, S. Aoki⁴, A. Ariga⁵, T. Ariga⁵, D. Bender⁶, A. Bertolin⁷, C. Bozza⁸, R. Brugnera⁷^,9, A. Buonaura²^,10, S. Buontempo², B. Büttner¹¹, M. Chernyavsky¹², A. Chukanov¹³, L. Consiglio², N. D’Ambrosio¹⁴, G. De Lellis²^,10, M. De Serio¹⁵^,16, P. Del Amo Sanchez¹⁷, A. Di Crescenzo², D. Di Ferdinando¹⁸, N. Di Marco¹⁴, S. Dmitrievski¹³, M. Dracos¹⁹, D. Duchesneau¹⁷, S. Dusini⁷, T. Dzhatdoev³, J. Ebert¹¹, A. Ereditato⁵, R. A. Fini¹⁶, T. Fukuda²⁰, G. Galati¹⁵^,16, A. Garfagnini⁷^,9, G. Giacomelli¹⁸^,21, C. Göllnitz¹¹, J. Goldberg²², Y. Gornushkin¹³, G. Grella⁸, M. Guler⁶, C. Gustavino²³, C. Hagner¹¹, T. Hara⁴, A. Hollnagel¹¹, B. Hosseini²^,10, H. Ishida²⁰, K. Ishiguro²⁴, K. Jakovcic²⁵, C. Jollet¹⁹, C. Kamiscioglu⁶, M. Kamiscioglu⁶, J. Kawada⁵, J. H. Kim²⁶, S. H. Kim²⁶, N. Kitagawa²⁴, B. Klicek²⁵, K. Kodama²⁷, M. Komatsu²⁴, U. Kose⁷, I. Kreslo⁵, A. Lauria²^,10, J. Lenkeit¹¹, A. Ljubicic²⁵, A. Longhin²⁸, P. Loverre²³^,29, A. Malgin¹, M. Malenica²⁵, G. Mandrioli¹⁸, T. Matsuo²⁰, V. Matveev¹, N. Mauri¹⁸^,21^*, E. Medinaceli⁷^,9, A. Meregaglia¹⁹, S. Mikado³⁰, P. Monacelli²³, M. C. Montesi²^,10, K. Morishima²⁴, M. T. Muciaccia¹⁵^,16, N. Naganawa²⁴, T. Naka²⁴, M. Nakamura²⁴, T. Nakano²⁴, Y. Nakatsuka²⁴, K. Niwa²⁴, S. Ogawa²⁰, N. Okateva¹², A. Olshevsky¹³, T. Omura²⁴, K. Ozaki⁴, A. Paoloni²⁸, B. D. Park²⁶, I. G. Park²⁶, L. Pasqualini¹⁸^,21, A. Pastore¹⁶, L. Patrizii¹⁸, H. Pessard¹⁷, C. Pistillo⁵, D. Podgrudkov³, N. Polukhina¹², M. Pozzato¹⁸^,21, F. Pupilli¹⁴, M. Roda⁷^,9, H. Rokujo²⁴, T. Roganova³, G. Rosa²³^,29, O. Ryazhskaya¹, O. Sato²⁴, A. Schembri¹⁴, I. Shakiryanova¹, T. Shchedrina², A. Sheshukov¹³, H. Shibuya²⁰, T. Shiraishi²⁴, G. Shoziyoev³, S. Simone¹⁵^,16, M. Sioli¹⁸^,21^**, C. Sirignano⁷^,9, G. Sirri¹⁸, M. Spinetti²⁸, L. Stanco⁷, N. Starkov¹², S. M. Stellacci⁸, M. Stipcevic²⁵, P. Strolin²^,10, S. Takahashi⁴, M. Tenti¹⁸^,21, F. Terranova²⁸^,31, V. Tioukov², S. Tufanli⁵, P. Vilain³², M. Vladimirov¹², L. Votano²⁸, J. L. Vuilleumier⁵, G. Wilquet³², B. Wonsak¹¹, C. S. Yoon²⁶, S. Zemskova¹³ and A. Zghiche¹⁷

¹ INR-Institute for Nuclear Research of the Russian Academy of Sciences, RUS-117312 , Moscow, Russia
² INFN Sezione di Napoli, 80125 , Naples, Italy
³ SINP MSU-Skobeltsyn Institute of Nuclear Physics, Lomonosov Moscow State University, RUS-119991 , Moscow, Russia
⁴ Kobe University, 657-8501 , Kobe, Japan
⁵ Albert Einstein Center for Fundamental Physics, Laboratory for High Energy Physics (LHEP), University of Bern, 3012 , Bern, Switzerland
⁶ METU-Middle East Technical University, 06531 , Ankara, Turkey
⁷ INFN Sezione di Padova, 35131 , Padua, Italy
⁸ Dipartimento di Fisica dell’Università di Salerno and “Gruppo Collegato” INFN, 84084 , Fisciano (Salerno), Italy
⁹ Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia dell’Università di Padova, 35131 , Padua, Italy
¹⁰ Dipartimento di Fisica dell’Università Federico II di Napoli, 80125 , Naples, Italy
¹¹ Hamburg University, 22761 , Hamburg, Germany
¹² LPI-Lebedev Physical Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, RUS-119991 , Moscow, Russia
¹³ JINR-Joint Institute for Nuclear Research, RUS-141980 , Dubna, Russia
¹⁴ INFN-Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso, 67010 , Assergi (L’Aquila), Italy
¹⁵ Dipartimento di Fisica dell’Università di Bari, 70126 , Bari, Italy
¹⁶ INFN Sezione di Bari, 70126 , Bari, Italy
¹⁷ LAPP, Université de Savoie, CNRS/IN2P3, 74941 , Annecy-le-Vieux, France
¹⁸ INFN Sezione di Bologna, 40127 , Bologna, Italy
¹⁹ IPHC, Université de Strasbourg, CNRS/IN2P3, 67037 , Strasbourg, France
²⁰ Toho University, 274-8510 , Funabashi, Japan
²¹ Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia dell’Università di Bologna, 40127 , Bologna, Italy
²² Department of Physics, Technion, 32000 , Haifa, Israel
²³ INFN Sezione di Roma, 00185 , Rome, Italy
²⁴ Nagoya University, 464-8602 , Nagoya, Japan
²⁵ IRB-Rudjer Boskovic Institute, 10002 , Zagreb, Croatia
²⁶ Gyeongsang National University, 900 Gazwa-dong, Jinju, 660-701, Korea
²⁷ Aichi University of Education, 448-8542 , Kariya, Aichi-Ken, Japan
²⁸ INFN-Laboratori Nazionali di Frascati dell’INFN, 00044 , Frascati (Roma), Italy
²⁹ Dipartimento di Fisica dell’Università di Roma “La Sapienza”, 00185 , Rome, Italy
³⁰ Nihon University, 275-8576 , Narashino, Chiba, Japan
³¹ Dipartimento di Fisica dell’Università di Milano-Bicocca, 20126 , Milan, Italy
³² IIHE, Université Libre de Bruxelles, 1050 , Brussels, Belgium

^* e-mail: mauri@bo.infn.it
^** e-mail: sioli@bo.infn.it

Received: 3 March 2014
Accepted: 5 June 2014
Published online: 2 July 2014

Abstract

The OPERA detector, designed to search for oscillations in the CNGS beam, is located in the underground Gran Sasso laboratory, a privileged location to study TeV-scale cosmic rays. For the analysis here presented, the detector was used to measure the atmospheric muon charge ratio in the TeV region. OPERA collected charge-separated cosmic ray data between 2008 and 2012. More than 3 million atmospheric muon events were detected and reconstructed, among which about 110000 multiple muon bundles. The charge ratio was measured separately for single and for multiple muon events. The analysis exploited the inversion of the magnet polarity which was performed on purpose during the 2012 Run. The combination of the two data sets with opposite magnet polarities allowed minimizing systematic uncertainties and reaching an accurate determination of the muon charge ratio. Data were fitted to obtain relevant parameters on the composition of primary cosmic rays and the associated kaon production in the forward fragmentation region. In the surface energy range 1–20 TeV investigated by OPERA, is well described by a parametric model including only pion and kaon contributions to the muon flux, showing no significant contribution of the prompt component. The energy independence supports the validity of Feynman scaling in the fragmentation region up to TeV/nucleon primary energy.