A new composition-sensitive parameter for Ultra-High Energy Cosmic Rays

Abstract

A new family of parameters intended for composition studies in cosmic ray surface array detectors is proposed. The application of this technique to different array layout designs has been analyzed. The parameters make exclusive use of surface data combining the information from the total signal at each triggered detector and the array geometry. They are sensitive to the combined effects of the different muon and electromagnetic components on the lateral distribution function of proton and iron initiated showers at any given primary energy. Analytical and numerical studies have been performed in order to assess the reliability, stability and optimization of these parameters. Experimental uncertainties, the underestimation of the muon component in the shower simulation codes, intrinsic fluctuations and reconstruction errors are considered and discussed in a quantitative way. The potential discrimination power of these parameters, under realistic experimental conditions, is compared on a simplified, albeit quantitative way, with that expected from other surface and fluorescence estimators.

27 pages, 17 figures. Submitted to a refereed journal

References in corpus (7)

• Measurement of the Depth of Maximum of Extensive Air Showers above 10^18 eV
• The Offline Software Framework of the Pierre Auger Observatory
• Underground Muon Counters as a Tool for Composition Analyses
• The Cosmic Ray Energy Spectrum and Related Measurements with the Pierre Auger Observatory
• Operations of and Future Plans for the Pierre Auger Observatory
• AMIGA, Auger Muons and Infill for the Ground Array
• Effect of multiple reusing of simulated air showers in detector simulations

Cited by in corpus (11)

• Mass composition of ultra-high-energy cosmic rays with the Telescope Array Surface Detector Data
• A search for photons with energies above $2\times 10^{17}$ eV using hybrid data from the low-energy extensions of the Pierre Auger Observatory
• A targeted search for point sources of EeV photons with the Pierre Auger Observatory
• Searches for Ultra-High-Energy Photons at the Pierre Auger Observatory
• Improving photon-hadron discrimination based on cosmic ray surface detector data
• Search for Ultra-High-Energy Neutrinos with the Telescope Array Surface Detector
• Deep learning method for identifying mass composition of ultra-high-energy cosmic rays
• A composition dependent energy scale and the determination of the cosmic ray primary mass in the ankle region
• Energy reconstruction of hadron-initiated showers of ultra-high energy cosmic rays
• $F_{\gamma }$: a new observable for photon-hadron discrimination in hybrid air shower events
• Search for Ultra-High Energy Photons with the Pierre Auger Observatory