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arXiv · 1804.05234

On the Energy Spectrum of Cosmogenic Neutrons

Alexey Malgin
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Abstract

The processes of the generation of cosmogenic neutrons (cg-neutrons) underground are considered. The neutrons produced by cosmic-ray muons in their interactions with matter are called cosmogenic. Deep-inelastic $πA$-collisions of pions in muon-induced hadronic showers are mainly their source at energies above 30 MeV. The characteristics of the energy spectrum for the generation of cg-neutrons have been determined by invoking the additive quark model of deep-inelastic soft processes and the mechanism for the interactions of high-energy nucleons in a nucleus. The three-component shape of the spectrum is explained, and the energy of the "knee" in the spectrum has been found to depend on the mass number $A$. The peculiarities of deep-inelastic $πA$-scattering lead to the conclusion that the spectrum of cg-neutrons steepens sharply at energies above 1 GeV. The calculated quantitative characteristics of the spectrum are compared with those obtained in measurements.

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Alexey Malgin. 2018-04-14. On the Energy Spectrum of Cosmogenic Neutrons. https://doi.org/10.1134/s1063776117100089

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