Atmospheric Temperature Effect in secondary cosmic rays observed with a two square meter ground-based detector. (arXiv:2002.04277v1 [astro-ph.IM])
<a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Riadigos_I/0/1/0/all/0/1">Irma Riádigos</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Garcia_Castro_D/0/1/0/all/0/1">Damián García-Castro</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Gonzalez_Diaz_D/0/1/0/all/0/1">Diego González-Díaz</a>, <a href="http://arxiv.org/find/astro-ph/1/au:+Perez_Munuzuri_V/0/1/0/all/0/1">Vicente Pérez-Muñuzuri</a>
A high resolution 2 m$^2$ tracking detector, based on timing Resistive Plate
Chamber (tRPC) cells, has been installed at the Faculty of Physics of the
University of Santiago de Compostela (Spain) in order to improve our
understanding of the cosmic rays arriving at the Earth’s surface. Following a
short commisioning of the detector, a study of the atmospheric temperature
effect of the secondary cosmic ray component was carried out. A method based on
Principal Component Analysis (PCA) has been implemented in order to obtain the
distribution of temperature coefficients, $W_T(h)$, using as input the measured
rate of nearly vertical cosmic ray tracks, showing good agreement with the
theoretical expectation. The method succesfully removes the correlation present
between the different atmospheric layers, that would be dominant otherwise. We
briefly describe the initial calibration and pressure correction procedures,
essential to isolate the temperature effect. Overall, the measured cosmic ray
rate displays the expected anticorrelation with the effective atmospheric
temperature, through the coefficient $alpha_T= -0.279 pm 0.051 $ %/K. Rates
follow the seasonal variations, and unusual short-term events are clearly
identified too.
A high resolution 2 m$^2$ tracking detector, based on timing Resistive Plate
Chamber (tRPC) cells, has been installed at the Faculty of Physics of the
University of Santiago de Compostela (Spain) in order to improve our
understanding of the cosmic rays arriving at the Earth’s surface. Following a
short commisioning of the detector, a study of the atmospheric temperature
effect of the secondary cosmic ray component was carried out. A method based on
Principal Component Analysis (PCA) has been implemented in order to obtain the
distribution of temperature coefficients, $W_T(h)$, using as input the measured
rate of nearly vertical cosmic ray tracks, showing good agreement with the
theoretical expectation. The method succesfully removes the correlation present
between the different atmospheric layers, that would be dominant otherwise. We
briefly describe the initial calibration and pressure correction procedures,
essential to isolate the temperature effect. Overall, the measured cosmic ray
rate displays the expected anticorrelation with the effective atmospheric
temperature, through the coefficient $alpha_T= -0.279 pm 0.051 $ %/K. Rates
follow the seasonal variations, and unusual short-term events are clearly
identified too.
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