Depth of maximum of air-shower profiles at the Pierre Auger Observatory. I. Measurements at energies above 10(17.8) eV
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Aab, A.; Bueno Villar, Antonio; Gascón Bravo, Alberto; Lozano Bahílo, Julio; Molina-Bueno, Laura; Navas Concha, Sergio; Sánchez Lucas, Patricia; Zamorano García, Bruno; Pierre Auger CollaborationEditorial
American Physical Society
Date
2014-12-31Referencia bibliográfica
Aab, A., Abreu, P., Aglietta, M. A. R. C. O., Ahn, E. J., Al Samarai, I., Albuquerque, I. F. D. M., ... & Castillo, J. A. (2014). Depth of maximum of air-shower profiles at the Pierre Auger Observatory. I. Measurements at energies above 1 0 17.8 eV. Physical Review D, 90(12), 122005. [https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.90.122005]
Sponsorship
Comision Nacional de Energia Atomica; Fundacion Antorchas; Gobierno De La Provincia de Mendoza; Municipalidad de Malargue; NDM Holdings; Valle Las Lenas; Australian Research Council; National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq); Ciencia Tecnologia e Inovacao (FINEP); Carlos Chagas Filho Foundation for Research Support of the State of Rio de Janeiro (FAPERJ); Fundacao de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado de Sao Paulo (FAPESP) 2010/07359-6 1999/05404-3; Ministerio de Ciencia e Tecnologia (MCT), Brazil; Grant Agency of the Czech Republic Czech Republic Government 14-17501S; Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS); Region Ile-de-France; Departement Sciences de l'Univers (SDU-INSU/CNRS); Institut Lagrange de Paris; French National Research Agency (ANR) ANR-10-LABX-63 ANR-11-IDEX-0004-02; Federal Ministry of Education & Research (BMBF); German Research Foundation (DFG); Finanzministerium Baden-Wurttemberg; Helmholtz Association; Ministerium fur Wissenschaft und Forschung; Nordrhein Westfalen; Ministerium fur Wissenschaft; Forschung und Kunst; Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany; Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN); Ministry of Education, Universities and Research (MIUR); Gran Sasso Center for Astroparticle Physics (CFA); CETEMPS Center of Excellence, Italy; Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnologia (CONACyT); Ministerie van Onderwijs, Cultuur en Wetenschap; Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO); FOM (The Netherlands) Netherlands Government; National Centre for Research and Development ERA-NET-ASPERA/01/11 ERA-NET-ASPERA/02/11; National Science Centre, Poland 2013/08/M/ST9/00322 2013/08/M/ST9/00728 HARMONIA 5 - 2013/10/M/ST9/00062; Portuguese national funds within COMPETE - Programa Operacional Factores de Competitividade through Fundacao para a Ciencia e a Tecnologia, Portugal; FEDER funds within COMPETE - Programa Operacional Factores de Competitividade through Fundacao para a Ciencia e a Tecnologia, Portugal; Romanian Authority for Scientific Research ANCS; CNDI-UEFISCDI 20/2012 194/2012 1/ASPERA2/2012 ERA-NET PN-II-RU-PD-2011-3-0145-17 PN-II-RU-PD-2011-3-0062; Minister of National Education, Programme for research - Space Technology and Advanced Research - STAR, Romania 83/2013; Slovenian Research Agency - Slovenia; Comunidad de Madrid Instituto de Salud Carlos III; European Union (EU); Spanish Government; Xunta de Galicia; European Community 7th Framework Program, Spain FP7-PEOPLE-2012-IEF-328826; Science & Technology Facilities Council (STFC); United States Department of Energy (DOE) DE-AC02-07CH11359 DE-FR02-04ER41300 DE-FG02-99ER41107 DE-SC0011689; National Science Foundation (NSF) 0450696; Grainger Foundation, USA; National Foundation for Science & Technology Development (NAFOSTED); European Union (EU) PIRSES-2009-GA-246806; UNESCO; MSMT-CR LG13007; 7AMB14AR005; CZ.1.05/2.1.00/03.0058Abstract
We report a study of the distributions of the depth of maximum, Xmax, of extensive air-shower profiles with energies above 1017.8 eV as observed with the fluorescence telescopes of the Pierre Auger Observatory. The analysis method for selecting a data sample with minimal sampling bias is described in detail as well as the experimental cross-checks and systematic uncertainties. Furthermore, we discuss the detector acceptance and the resolution of the Xmax measurement and provide parametrizations thereof as a function of energy. The energy dependence of the mean and standard deviation of the Xmax distributions are compared to air-shower simulations for different nuclear primaries and interpreted in terms of the mean and variance of the logarithmic mass distribution at the top of the atmosphere.