Probing the mass composition of TeV cosmic rays with HAWC

2025/09/21 by J. C. Arteaga-Velázquez, Arteaga-Velázquez, J. C.
Physics and Astronomy · #Astrophysics and Cosmic Phenomena #Dark Matter and Cosmic Phenomena #FOS: Physical sciences #High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena (astro-ph.HE) #Particle Detector Development and Performance

paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2509.17273

openalex publication_date 2025/09/21 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28

Abstract

In this contribution, we have investigated the energy spectra of the elemental mass groups of cosmic rays for the Light (H+He), medium (C+O) and heavy (Ne-Fe) components using the High Altitude Water Cherenkov Gamma-Ray observatory (HAWC). The study was carried out in the energy interval from 10 TeV to 1 PeV using almost 5 years of data on hadronic air showers. The energy spectra were unfolded using the bidimensional distribution of the lateral shower age versus the reconstructed primary energy. We have employed the QGSJET-II-04 high-energy hadronic interaction model for the current analysis. The results show the presence of fine structure in the spectra of the light, medium and heavy mass groups of cosmic rays.

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