Measurement of the kaon to pion production ratio with the Super-Kamiokande

Super-Kamiokande Collaboration

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Cosmic-ray muons are generated from the decay of mesons which are secondary particles produced via hadronic interaction between primary cosmic-ray particles and atmospheric nuclei at the upper the atmosphere. The mesons such pions and kaons mostly decay into muons immediately, reflecting the details of the hadronic interactions depending on their energy and lifetime. The modulation of the cosmic-ray muon rate as well as the flux and the atmospheric kaon-to-pion production ratio are important to determine the flux and energy of the atmospheric neutrino. In particular, the kaon-to-pion production ratio rK/π is measured with the correlation coefficient αT between the cosmic-ray muon rate in the underground detector and the atmospheric temperature. As a result, we obtained the correlation coefficient rK/π = 0.85 ± 0.01 (statistical uncertainty only) and rK/π = 0.12 ± 0.03 (statistical uncertainty only) using the data taken in 10 years at the Super-Kamiokande detector. In this article, we report the current status of measurement of the modulation of the comic-ray muon and the atmospheric kaon-to-pion production ratio.

Original languageEnglish
Article number214
JournalProceedings of Science
Volume444
Publication statusPublished - 27 Sept 2024
Event38th International Cosmic Ray Conference, ICRC 2023 - Nagoya, Japan
Duration: 26 Jul 20233 Aug 2023

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Measurement of the kaon to pion production ratio with the Super-Kamiokande'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this