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Depth of maximum of air-shower profiles at the Pierre Auger Observatory. I. Measurements at energies above1017.8 eV
- Source :
- Physical Review D. 90
- Publication Year :
- 2014
- Publisher :
- American Physical Society (APS), 2014.
-
Abstract
- We report a study of the distributions of the depth of maximum, X-max, of extensive air-shower profiles with energies above 10(17.8) 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 X-max measurement and provide parametrizations thereof as a function of energy. The energy dependence of the mean and standard deviation of the X-max 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.
- Subjects :
- Pierre Auger Observatory
Physics
Nuclear and High Energy Physics
Mass distribution
010308 nuclear & particles physics
Astrophysics::High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
Astrophysics::Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics
Cosmic ray
Astrophysics
01 natural sciences
Standard deviation
Computational physics
Auger
Air shower
Observatory
0103 physical sciences
Mass spectrum
010303 astronomy & astrophysics
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 15502368 and 15507998
- Volume :
- 90
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Physical Review D
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi...........31ce600876869669575f29712c165640