The proton-air cross section in the energy range 1-100 TeV has been measured by the ARGO-YBJ cosmic ray experiment. The analysis is based on the primary cosmic ray flux attenuation for different atmospheric depths (i.e. zenith angles) and exploits the detector capabilities of selecting the shower development stage by means of hit multiplicity, density and lateral profile measurements at ground. The effects of shower fluctuations, the contribution of heavier primaries and the uncertainties of the hadronic interaction models, have been taken into account. The results have been used to estimate the total protonproton cross section at center-of-mass energies between 70 and 500 GeV, where no accelerator data are currently available.
The remnant of supernova explosion is widely believed to be the acceleration site of high-energy cosmic ray particles. The acceleration timescale is, however, typically very long. Here we report the detection of a variable γ-ray source with the Fermi Large Area Telescope, which is positionally and temporally consistent with a peculiar supernova, iPTF14hls. A quasi-stellar object SDSS J092054.04+504251.5, which is probably a blazar candidate according to the infrared data, is found in the error circle of the γ-ray source. More data about the γ-ray source and SDSS J092054.04+504251.5 are needed to confirm their association. On the other hand, if the association between the γ-ray source and the supernova is confirmed, this would be the first time to detect high-energy γ-ray emission from a supernova, suggesting very fast particle acceleration by supernova explosions.
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