arXiv:astro-ph/0202172·v1·Astrophysics
The Effect of Non Gaussian Errors on the Determination of Steeply Falling Spectra
C.O. Escobar (1)🇧🇷 · L. G. dos Santos (1)🇧🇷 · R.A. Vazquez (2) ((1) Instituto de Fisica Gleb Wataghim, Unicamp, Brasil, (2) Departamento de Fisica de Particulas, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, Spain)🇪🇸
Abstract
The determination of a steeply falling energy spectrum from rare events with non-gaussian measurement errors is a delicate matter. The final shape of the spectrum may be severely distorted as a consequence of non-gaussian tails in the energy resolution of the experiment. We illustrate this effect with the recent experimental efforts to determine the ultra-high energy extreme of the cosmic ray spectrum.
Comments: 11 pages, 5 figures