2011/03/10 by J. Rosado, Rosado, J., F. Blanco +3
Chemistry · Physics and Astronomy · #FOS: Physical sciences #Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics (astro-ph.IM) #Spectroscopy and Laser Applications #astro-ph.IM
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.1103.2022
10 pages, 4 figures
arxiv created 2011/03/10 · openalex publication_date 2011/03/10 · arxiv updated 2011/03/11 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
The air-fluorescence yield is a key parameter for determining the energy scale of ultra-high-energy cosmic rays detected by fluorescence telescopes. A compilation of the available measurements of the absolute air-fluorescence yield normalized to its value in photons per MeV for the 337 nm band at given pressure and temperature has been recently presented in Ref. [1]. Also, in that paper, some corrections in the evaluation of the energy deposited in the corresponding experimental collision chambers have been proposed. In this note this comparison is updated. In addition, a simple statistical analysis is carried out showing that our corrections favor the compatibility among the various experiments. As a result, an average value of 5.45 ph/MeV for the fluorescence yield of the 337 nm band (20.1 ph/MeV for the spectral interval 300-420 nm) at 1013 hPa and 293 K with an uncertainty of 5% is found. This result is fully compatible with that recently presented by the AIRFLY collaboration (still preliminary) in such a way that including this latest result could even lowered the final uncertainty below the 5% level with high reliability.