Measurement of the average shape of longitudinal profiles of cosmic-ray air showers at the Pierre Auger Observatory

Abstract

The profile of the longitudinal development of showers produced by ultra-high energy cosmic rays carries information related to the interaction properties of the primary particles with atmospheric nuclei. In this work, we present the first measurement of the average shower profile in traversed atmospheric depth at the Pierre Auger Observatory. The shapes of profiles are well reproduced by the Gaisser-Hillas parametrization within the range studied, for E > 10^{17.8} eV. A detailed analysis of the systematic uncertainties is performed using 10 years of data and a full detector simulation. The average shape is quantified using two variables related to the width and asymmetry of the profile, and the results are compared with predictions of hadronic interaction models for different primary particles.

arXiv commentPublished version, 20 pages, 6 figures, 2 tables

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• Data-driven estimation of the invisible energy of cosmic ray showers with the Pierre Auger Observatory
• Revisiting ultrahigh-energy constraints on decaying super-heavy dark matter
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• A search for the anomalous events detected by ANITA using the Pierre Auger Observatory
• Study of longitudinal development of air showers in the knee energy range
• The Pierre Auger Observatory Open Data
• Studying the mass sensitivity of air-shower observables using simulated cosmic rays
• Measurements and tests of hadronic interactions at ultra-high energies with the Pierre Auger Observatory
• Aperture correction for Beamforming in radiometric detection of ultra-high energy cosmic rays
• In-ice Askaryan Emission from Air Showers: Implications for Radio Neutrino Detectors
• A Model of the Response of Surface Detectors to Extensive Air Showers Based on Shower Universality