Simulation Study of Reconstruction of Cosmic Ray Extensive Air Shower with Thermal Neutron Detected by ENDA
Abstract
In the investigation of the "knee" region within the cosmic ray energy spectrum, extensive air shower (EAS) reconstruction by using different EAS secondary particles are of paramount importance for energy determination and composition separation and finally measurement of energy spectrum of different cosmic ray composition. The Electron-Neutron Detector Array (ENDA) is designed to detect thermal neutrons generated in the ground by high energy hadrons which constitute the "backbone" of EAS and carry vital information regarding the primary cosmic rays. At present, ENDA-64, consisting of 64 detectors, is employed inside the Large High Altitude Air Shower Observatory (LHAASO). This work simulates the response of ENDA and investigates the lateral distributions of thermal neutrons. A comparison of the NKG and double-exponential functions for describing this distribution using MC simulation data shows that the double-exponential function is more accurate. The mean difference between fitted and measured thermal neutron density is within ~ 6%. Meanwhile, the thermal neutron density at 10 m from the shower axis, ρn, depends mainly on the sum of all hadrons energy or the number of high-energy hadrons. The relationship between ρn and EAS hadron energy or the number of high-energy hadrons can be well fitted by a linear function on a log scale. This work is fundamental for energy determination and composition separation with hybrid detection by using ENDA in the near future.
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BibTeX
@misc{li2026simulation,
title = {{Simulation Study of Reconstruction of Cosmic Ray Extensive Air Shower with Thermal Neutron Detected by ENDA}},
author = {Fan-Ping Li and Xin-Hua Ma and Hu Liu and Tian-Lu Chen and Shu-Wang Cui and Danzengluobu and Xin-Rui Gao and Wei Gao and Wen-Chao Gao and Hai-Bing Hu and Denis Kuleshov and Kirill Kurinov and Bing-Bing Li and Mao-Yuan Liu and Ye Liu and Igor Maliy and Da-Yu Peng and Yao-Hui Qi and Jia-Bo Qin and Dong Qu and Oleg Shchegolev and Yuri Stenkin and Yu-Sen Wang and Tian-Shuang Yang and Li-Qiao Yin and Hui-Qian Zhang and Liang-Wei Zhang and Shi-Yuan Zhang},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2610.13183},
eprint = {2610.13183},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.13183},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Simulation Study of Reconstruction of Cosmic Ray Extensive Air Shower with Thermal Neutron Detected by ENDA
AU - Fan-Ping Li
AU - Xin-Hua Ma
AU - Hu Liu
AU - Tian-Lu Chen
AU - Shu-Wang Cui
AU - Danzengluobu
AU - Xin-Rui Gao
AU - Wei Gao
AU - Wen-Chao Gao
AU - Hai-Bing Hu
AU - Denis Kuleshov
AU - Kirill Kurinov
AU - Bing-Bing Li
AU - Mao-Yuan Liu
AU - Ye Liu
AU - Igor Maliy
AU - Da-Yu Peng
AU - Yao-Hui Qi
AU - Jia-Bo Qin
AU - Dong Qu
AU - Oleg Shchegolev
AU - Yuri Stenkin
AU - Yu-Sen Wang
AU - Tian-Shuang Yang
AU - Li-Qiao Yin
AU - Hui-Qian Zhang
AU - Liang-Wei Zhang
AU - Shi-Yuan Zhang
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/09
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2610.13183
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.13183
AB - In the investigation of the "knee" region within the cosmic ray energy spectrum, extensive air shower (EAS) reconstruction by using different EAS secondary particles are of paramount importance for energy determination and composition separation and finally measurement of energy spectrum of different cosmic ray composition. The Electron-Neutron Detector Array (ENDA) is designed to detect thermal neutrons generated in the ground by high energy hadrons which constitute the "backbone" of EAS and carry vital information regarding the primary cosmic rays. At present, ENDA-64, consisting of 64 detectors, is employed inside the Large High Altitude Air Shower Observatory (LHAASO). This work simulates the response of ENDA and investigates the lateral distributions of thermal neutrons. A comparison of the NKG and double-exponential functions for describing this distribution using MC simulation data shows that the double-exponential function is more accurate. The mean difference between fitted and measured thermal neutron density is within ~ 6%. Meanwhile, the thermal neutron density at 10 m from the shower axis, ρ_n, depends mainly on the sum of all hadrons energy or the number of high-energy hadrons. The relationship between ρ_n and EAS hadron energy or the number of high-energy hadrons can be well fitted by a linear function on a log scale. This work is fundamental for energy determination and composition separation with hybrid detection by using ENDA in the near future.
ER -