Evidence for a mixed mass composition at the ´ankle´ in the cosmic-ray spectrum

0471127 - FZÚ 2017 RIV NL eng J - Journal Article
Aab, A. - Abreu, P. - Aglietta, M. - Blažek, Jiří - Boháčová, Martina - Chudoba, Jiří - Ebr, Jan - Mandát, Dušan - Palatka, Miroslav - Pech, Miroslav - Prouza, Michael - Řídký, Jan - Schovánek, Petr - Trávníček, Petr - Vícha, Jakub … Total 425 authors
Evidence for a mixed mass composition at the ´ankle´ in the cosmic-ray spectrum.
Physics Letters. B. Roč. 762, Nov (2016), s. 288-295. ISSN 0370-2693. E-ISSN 1873-2445
R&D Projects: GA MŠMT LG15014; GA ČR(CZ) GA14-17501S
Research Infrastructure: AUGER-CZ - 90038
Institutional support: RVO:68378271
Keywords : ankle * cosmic rays * mass composition * Pierre Auger Observatory
OECD category: Particles and field physics
Impact factor: 4.807, year: 2016
Method of publishing: Open access

We report a first measurement for ultrahigh energy cosmic rays of the correlation between the depth of shower maximum and the signal in the water Cherenkov stations of air-showers registered simultaneously by the fluorescence and the surface detectors of the Pierre Auger Observatory. Such a correlation measurement is a unique feature of a hybrid air-shower observatory with sensitivity to both the electromagnetic and muonic components. It allows an accurate determination of the spread of primary masses in the cosmic-ray flux. Up till now, constraints on the spread of primary masses have been dominated by systematic uncertainties. The present correlation measurement is not affected by systematics in the measurement of the depth of shower maximum or the signal in the water Cherenkov stations.


Permanent Link: http://hdl.handle.net/11104/0268574