Fluorescence emission induced by extensive air showers in dependence on atmospheric conditions

Understand

Charged particles of extensive air showers (EAS), mainly electrons and positrons, initiate the emission of fluorescence light in the Earth's atmosphere.

• This light provides a calorimetric measurement of the energy of cosmic rays.
• For reconstructing the primary energy from an observed light track of an EAS, the fluorescence yield in air has to be known in dependence on atmospheric conditions, like air temperature, pressure, and humidity.
• Several experiments on fluorescence emission have published various sets of data covering different parts of the dependence of the fluorescence yield on atmospheric conditions.