Electronic Component of Cosmic Rays in the Low Atmosphere. I. Theoretical

The authors discuss the problem of the equilibrium conditions between meson and secondary electronic component. Following William's concept of electron track, some formulas are deduced for the number of electrons with energy>~η generated in coulombian collisions and in equilibrium with the meson component, in a substance having a critical energy εc. Similarly a general formula is given for the number of disintegration electrons in equilibrium with the meson component in atmosphere. Such formulas present a remarkable generality because they include the fundamental parameters explicitly, and the meson spectrum appears in them in integral form; this makes them particularly suitable for comparison with experiments.With the aid of these formulas the following calculations have been performed: (1) Number of secondary electrons generated in Pb and in equilibrium with the meson component for η=2, 3, 4, 5 Mev and for different values of the lower limit of meson energy. (2) Number of secondary collision electrons arising from the atmosphere for different values of η at sea level and at 3500 m. above sea level. (3) Number of secondary disintegration electrons for different values of the cut-off energy, etc.