Direct measurement of the muonic content of extensive air showers between 2 × 10.sup.17./sup. and 2 × 10.sup.18./sup. eV at the Pierre Auger Observatory

0535423 - FZÚ 2021 RIV US eng J - Journal Article
Aab, A. - Abreu, A. - Aglietta, M. - Bakalová, Alena - Blažek, Jiří - Boháčová, Martina - Chudoba, Jiří - Ebr, Jan - Juryšek, Jakub - Mandát, Dušan - Palatka, Miroslav - Pech, Miroslav - Prouza, Michael - Řídký, Jan - dos Santos, Eva M. Martins - Schovánek, Petr - Tobiška, Petr - Trávníček, Petr - Vícha, Jakub - Yushkov, Alexey … Total 372 authors
Direct measurement of the muonic content of extensive air showers between 2 × 10¹⁷ and 2 × 10¹⁸ eV at the Pierre Auger Observatory.
European Physical Journal C. Roč. 80, č. 8 (2020), s. 1-19, č. článku 751. ISSN 1434-6044. E-ISSN 1434-6052
R&D Projects: GA MŠMT LTT18004; GA MŠMT LM2015038; GA MŠMT EF16_013/0001402; GA MŠMT(CZ) LM2018102
Grant - others:OP VVV - AUGER-CZ(XE) CZ.02.1.01/0.0/0.0/16_013/0001402
Institutional support: RVO:68378271
Keywords : cosmic ray experiments * ultra high energy cosmic rays * air showers * Pierre Auger Observatory
OECD category: Particles and field physics
Impact factor: 4.590, year: 2020
Method of publishing: Open access

The hybrid design of the Pierre Auger Observatory allows for the measurement of the properties of extensive air showers initiated by ultra-high energy cosmic rays with unprecedented precision. By using an array of prototype underground muon detectors, we have performed the first direct measurement, by the Auger Collaboration, of the muon content of air showers between 2x1017 and 2x1018 eV. We have studied the energy evolution of the attenuation-corrected muon density, and compared it to predictions from air shower simulations. The observed densities are found to be larger than those predicted by models. We quantify this discrepancy by combining the measurements from the muon detector with those from the Auger fluorescence detector at 1017.5 eV and 1018 eV. We find that, for the models to explain the data, an increase in the muon density of 38%+/- 4%(12%)+/- 18%21% for EPOS-LHC, and of 50%(53%)+/- 4%(13%)+/- 20%23% for QGSJetII-04, is respectively needed.

Permanent Link: http://hdl.handle.net/11104/0313469