Measuring extensive air showers with Cherenkov light detectors of the Yakutsk array: The energy spectrum of cosmic rays
Abstract
The energy spectrum of cosmic rays in the range 1015 eV to 6*1019 eV has been studied using the air Cherenkov light detectors of the Yakutsk array. The total flux of photons produced by relativistic electrons (including positrons as well, hereafter) of extensive air showers in the atmosphere is used as the energy estimator of the primary particle initiating a shower. The resultant differential flux of cosmic rays exhibits, in accordance with previous measurements, a knee and ankle features at energies 3*1015 and ~1019 eV, respectively. A comparison of observational data with simulations is made in the knee and ankle regions in order to choose the models of galactic and extragalactic components of cosmic rays which describe better the energy spectrum measured.