Cosmic ray hadron flux at sea level up to 15 TeV

Abstract

Using a prototype of a large hadron calorimeter, vertical cosmic ray hadrons were recorded and the all-hadron flux was measured in the range from 5 GeV to 10 TeV. Hadron reconstruction and identification are described. We observe a vertical flux of dI/dEh=(1.59+or-0.24)*10-5(Eh/100 GeV)-2.72+or-0.10 (m2 s sr GeV)-1. The flux compares well with values obtained in other experiments. Total inelastic cross sections for protons scattered by nuclei in air are deduced from the unaccompanied hadron flux and compared with the values reported by other authors.