|
An air shower is an extensive (many kilometres wide) cascade of ionized particles and electromagnetic radiation produced in the atmosphere when a ''primary'' cosmic ray (i.e. one of extraterrestrial origin) enters the atmosphere. The term ''cascade'' means that the incident particle, which could be a proton, a nucleus, an electron, a photon, or (rarely) a positron, strikes an atom's nucleus in the air so as to produce many energetic hadrons. The unstable hadrons decay in the air speedily into other particles and electromagnetic radiation, which are part of the shower components. The secondary radiation rains down, including x-rays, muons, protons, antiprotons, alpha particles, pions, electrons, positrons, and neutrons. The dose from cosmic radiation is largely from muons, neutrons, and electrons, with a dose rate that varies in different parts of the world and based largely on the geomagnetic field, altitude, and solar cycle. The cosmic-radiation dose rate on airplanes is so high that, according to the United Nations UNSCEAR 2000 Report (see links at bottom), airline flight crew workers receive more dose on average than any other worker, including those in nuclear power plants. Airline crews receive more cosmic rays if they routinely work flight routes that take them close to the North or South pole at high altitudes, where this type of radiation is maximal. The air shower was discovered by Bruno Rossi in 1934. By observing the cosmic ray with the detectors placed apart from each other, Rossi recognized that many particles arrive simultaneously at the detectors.〔 〕 This phenomenon is now called an air shower. ==Air shower formation== After the primary cosmic particle has collided with the air molecule, the main part of the first interactions are pions. Also kaons and baryons may be created. Pions and kaons are not stable, thus they may decay into other particles. The neutral pions decay into photons in a process . The photons produced form an electromagnetic cascade by creating more photons, protons, antiprotons, electrons and positrons.〔 〕 The charged pions preferentially decay into muons and neutrinos in the processes and . This is how the muons and neutrinos are produced in the air shower.〔 Also, kaon may be an origin of muons, which means the decay process is . In the other hand kaons can produce also pions via the decay mode .〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア(Wikipedia)』 ■ウィキペディアで「Air shower (physics)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|