Measurement of the depth of maximum of extensive air showers above 10(18) eV
Contribuinte(s) |
UNIVERSIDADE DE SÃO PAULO |
---|---|
Data(s) |
19/04/2012
19/04/2012
2010
|
Resumo |
We describe the measurement of the depth of maximum, X(max), of the longitudinal development of air showers induced by cosmic rays. Almost 4000 events above 10(18) eV observed by the fluorescence detector of the Pierre Auger Observatory in coincidence with at least one surface detector station are selected for the analysis. The average shower maximum was found to evolve with energy at a rate of (106 +/- 35-21) g/cm(2)/decade below 10(18.24) +/- (0.05) eV, and d24 +/- 3 g/cm(2)/ecade above this energy. The measured shower-to-shower fluctuations decrease from about 55 to 26 g/cm(2). The interpretation of these results in terms of the cosmic ray mass composition is briefly discussed. Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica, Argentina Fundacion Antorchas Gobierno de La Provincia de Mendoza, Municipalidad de Malargue, Argentina NDM Holdings Valle Las Leñas, Argentina Australian Research Council Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) Financiadora de Estudos e Projetos (FINEP) Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de Rio de Janeiro (FAPERJ) Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP) Ministério da Ciência e Tecnologia, Brasil Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic [AVCR AV0Z10100502, AV0Z10100522, GAAV KJB300100801 and KJB100100904, MSMT-CR LA08016, LC527, 1M06002, MSM0021620859] Centre de Calcul IN2P3/CNRS, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) Conseil Régional Ile-de-France, Département Physique Nucléaire et Corpusculaire (PNC-IN2P3/CNRS) Département Sciences de l’Univers (SDU-INSU/CNRS), France Bundesministerium fur Bildung und Forschung (BMBF) Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) Finanzministerium Baden-Wurttemberg Helmholtz-Gemeinschaft Deutscher Forschungszentren (HGF) Ministerium fur Wissenschaft und Forschung, Nordrhein-Westfalen Ministerium fur Wissenschaft, Forschung und Kunst, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN) Ministero dell’Istruzione, dell’Università e della Ricerca (MIUR), Italy Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnologıa (CONACYT), Mexico Ministerie van Onderwijs, Cultuur en Wetenschap, Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek (NWO) Stichting voor Fundamenteel Onderzoek der Materie (FOM), Netherlands Ministry of Science and Higher Education, Poland [1 P03 D 014 30, N202 090 31/0623, No. PAP/218/2006] Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT), Portugal Ministry for Higher Education, Science, and Technology, Slovenian Research Agency, Slovenia Comunidad de Madrid, Spain Consejerıa de Educacion de la Comunidad de Castilla La Mancha FEDER funds Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovacion, Xunta de Galicia, Spain Science and Technology Facilities Council, United Kingdom Department of Energy (DOE) [DE-AC02-07CH11359, DE-FR02-04ER41300] National Science Foundation [0450696] The Grainger Foundation USA ALFA-EC/HELEN European Union [MEIF-CT-2005-025057, PIEF-GA-2008-220240] Unesco |
Identificador |
PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERS, NEW YORK, v.104, 2010 0031-9007 http://producao.usp.br/handle/BDPI/16558 10.1103/PhysRevLett.104.091101 |
Idioma(s) |
eng |
Publicador |
AMER PHYSICAL SOC NEW YORK |
Relação |
Physical Review Letters |
Direitos |
restrictedAccess Copyright AMER PHYSICAL SOC |
Palavras-Chave | #COSMIC-RAYS #FLUORESCENCE LIGHT #DETECTOR #RECONSTRUCTION #RESOLUTION #SPECTRUM #Physics, Multidisciplinary |
Tipo |
article original article publishedVersion |