Determining the detection efficiency and background level of ATIC electron observation from flight data

J. Chang, Purple Mountain Observatory Chinese Academy of Sciences
J. Wu, Purple Mountain Observatory Chinese Academy of Sciences
T. G. Guzik, Louisiana State University
J. P. Wefel, Louisiana State University
J. Isbert, Louisiana State University
J. H. Adams, NASA Marshall Space Flight Center
M. Christl, NASA Marshall Space Flight Center
J. Watts, NASA Marshall Space Flight Center
H. S. Ahn, University of Maryland, College Park
K. C. Kim, University of Maryland, College Park
E. S. Seo, University of Maryland, College Park
J. Wu, University of Maryland, College Park
G. L. Bashindzhagyan, Lomonosov Moscow State University
E. N. Kouznetsov, Lomonosov Moscow State University
M. I. Panasyuk, Lomonosov Moscow State University
N. V. Sokolskaya, Lomonosov Moscow State University
A. D. Panov, Lomonosov Moscow State University
V. I. Zatsepin, Lomonosov Moscow State University

Abstract

Observations of Cosmic-ray electrons are difficult due to the large flux of cosmic ray hadrons. The event selection efficiency and background levels can be estimated from flight data for the ATIC instrument. This reduces the dependence upon Monte Carlo simulations, which show differences between different codes, thereby reducing the systematic errors resulting from analyses that only use simulations. This paper discusses some of the methods used in the ATIC analysis to determine the detection efficiency and background level for the flight data.