Search for photons above 10.sup.19./sup.eV with the surface detector of the Pierre Auger Observatory

0577871 - FZÚ 2024 RIV US eng J - Journal Article
Abreu, P. - Aglietta, M. - Allekotte, I. - Bakalová, Alena - Blažek, Jiří - Boháčová, Martina - Chudoba, Jiří - Ebr, Jan - Hamal, Petr - Janeček, Petr - Juryšek, Jakub - Mandát, Dušan - Müller, Ana Laura - Palatka, Miroslav - Pech, Miroslav - Prouza, Michael - Řídký, Jan - dos Santos, Eva M. Martins - Schovánek, Petr - Stadelmaier, Maximilian Klaus - Tobiška, Petr - Trávníček, Petr - Vícha, Jakub - Yushkov, Alexey … Total 367 authors
Search for photons above 10¹⁹eV with the surface detector of the Pierre Auger Observatory.
Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics. Roč. 2023, č. 5 (2023), č. článku 021. ISSN 1475-7516. E-ISSN 1475-7516
R&D Projects: GA MŠMT LTT18004; GA MŠMT(CZ) EF18_046/0016010; GA MŠMT EF16_013/0001402
Research Infrastructure: AUGER-CZ II - 90102
Institutional support: RVO:68378271
Keywords : cosmic ray experiments * gamma ray detectors * ultra high energy cosmic rays * ultra high energy photons and neutrinos
OECD category: Astronomy (including astrophysics,space science)
Impact factor: 6.3, year: 2022
Method of publishing: Open access

We use the surface detector of the Pierre Auger Observatory to search for air showers initiated by photons with an energy above 1019 eV. Photons in the zenith angle range from 30 & DEG, to 60 & DEG, can be identified in the overwhelming background of showers initiated by charged cosmic rays through the broader time structure of the signals induced in the water Cherenkov detectors of the array and the steeper lateral distribution of shower particles reaching ground. Applying the search method to data collected between January 2004 and June 2020, upper limits at 95% CL are set to an E-2 diffuse flux of ultra-high energy photons above 1019 eV, 2x1019 eV and 4x1019 eV amounting to 2.11x10-3, 3.12x10-4 and 1.72x10-4 km-2 sr-1 yr-1, respectively. While the sensitivity of the present search around 2 x 1019 eV approaches expectations of cosmogenic photon fluxes in the case of a pure-proton composition, it is one order of magnitude above those from more realistic mixed-composition models.
Permanent Link: https://hdl.handle.net/11104/0346968