Studying the nuclear mass composition of Ultra-High Energy Cosmic Rays with the Pierre Auger Observatory

Abstract

The Fluorescence Detector of the Pierre Auger Observatory measures the atmospheric depth, $X_{max}$, where the longitudinal profile of the high energy air showers reaches its maximum. This is sensitive to the nuclear mass composition of the cosmic rays. Due to its hybrid design, the Pierre Auger Observatory also provides independent experimental observables obtained from the Surface Detector for the study of the nuclear mass composition. We present $X_{max}$-distributions and an update of the average and RMS values in different energy bins and compare them to the predictions for different nuclear masses of the primary particles and hadronic interaction models. We also present the results of the composition-sensitive parameters derived from the ground level component.

Proceedings of the 12th International Conference on Topics in Astroparticle and Underground Physics, TAUP 2011, Munich, Germany

References in corpus (3)

• Trigger and Aperture of the Surface Detector Array of the Pierre Auger Observatory
• New facts about muon production in Extended Air Shower simulations
• The Pierre Auger Observatory II: Studies of Cosmic Ray Composition and Hadronic Interaction models

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