1. Direct measurement of the muonic content of extensive air showers between $\mathbf { 2\times 10^{17}}$ and $\mathbf {2\times 10^{18}}~$eV at the Pierre Auger Observatory
- Author
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P. Tobiska, Bjarni Pont, H. J. Mathes, Stanislav Michal, S. Schröder, Italo Epicoco, A. Di Matteo, L. Lopes, B. Wundheiler, Jaime Alvarez-Muñiz, Alexandru Gherghel-Lascu, Lukáš Vaclavek, B. Keilhauer, Ioana Codrina Maris, S. J. Sciutto, J. Rodriguez Rojo, Fridtjof Feldbusch, Alessio Gorgi, D. Melo, G. C. Hill, Juan Miguel Carceller, Jorge F. Soriano, Ralph Engel, Enrique Zas, Orazio Zapparrata, J. Stasielak, L. Calcagni, Kai Daumiller, R. Sato, J. Ridky, Roberto Mussa, Fernando Contreras, Luis Villaseñor, J. Rautenberg, K.-H. Becker, Q. Luce, M. Pimenta, Carola Dobrigkeit, M. Muzio, Maximilian Stadelmaier, Darko Veberič, Maximilian Reininghaus, J. F. Valdés Galicia, I. De Mitri, P.R. Araújo Ferreira, Tobias Winchen, Marvin Gottowik, François Montanet, Alan Watson, M. A. Leigui de Oliveira, M. Perlin, Eric Mayotte, M. Gómez Berisso, Mihai Niculescu-Oglinzanu, J. Alvarez Castillo, Gaia Silli, A. Filipčič, Eleonora Guido, R. C. Shellard, Florian Lukas Briechle, F. Sarazin, T. Huege, Heino Falcke, D. Nitz, A. van Vliet, S. Petrera, L. Nellen, Denise Boncioli, Hernan Wahlberg, P. Abreu, Jeffrey Brack, Olaf Scholten, Mario Buscemi, Marc Weber, Humberto Ibarguen Salazar, R. M. de Almeida, D. Ravignani, J. Vicha, L. R. Wiencke, David Wittkowski, G. Salina, Danielle LaHurd, Olivier Deligny, Lorenzo Caccianiga, C. Morello, Jesús Peña-Rodríguez, E. M. Santos, Dusan Mandat, M. L. Díaz Castro, G. Farrar, R. Squartini, R. Lorek, Ugo Giaccari, Miguel Mostafa, J. Kleinfeller, Bruce R. Dawson, Francesca Zuccarello, B. Tome, P.O. Mazur, Rodrigo Pelayo, K. H. Kampert, Peter L. Biermann, Stijn Buitink, Valerio Verzi, Alfred Müller, A. Aab, Violet M. Harvey, D. Harari, C. M. Schäfer, Jose Chinellato, L. Bonneau Arbeletche, Paolo Privitera, Massimo Mastrodicasa, A. López Casado, Frank G. Schröder, Marcel Köpke, Max Malacari, M. Platino, Samo Stanič, R. Conceição, Miroslav Hrabovský, Julien Manshanden, Ioana Caracas, Kevin-Druis Merenda, A. Letessier-Selvon, Dariusz Gora, Andres Travaini, F. Guarino, John Matthews, Flavia Gesualdi, A. Haungs, J. Perez Armand, Matias Tueros, Alina Mihaela Badescu, Cristina Galea, B. L. Lago, Lorenzo Cazon, E. Varela, Peter Buchholz, J.D. Sanabria Gomez, A. Taboada, M. Prouza, P. Mantsch, G. Matthiae, Z. Szadkowski, A. Parra, R.J. Barreira Luz, Luis A. Nunez, Alan Coleman, Christian Sarmiento-Cano, Marco Aglietta, Marcus Niechciol, S. J. Saffi, G. Medina-Tanco, R. Halliday, P.F. Gómez Vitale, Alena Bakalova, Claudio Galelli, Thomas Hebbeker, Paula Gina Isar, S. Müller, Giovanni Marsella, D. Nosek, E. Santos, F. Riehn, A. Fuster, B. García, Sergio Dasso, Tristan Sudholz, S. Querchfeld, R. López, Karen S. Caballero-Mora, F. Pedreira, Marina Scornavacche, Martín Miguel Freire, Markus Roth, F. Salamida, A. Yushkov, J. Šupík, Carlo Ventura, Raul Sarmento, Jonathan Biteau, Felix Schlüter, Nicolás González, Fabian Gobbi, M. Schimp, G. P. Guedes, Martin Erdmann, Toshihiro Fujii, Ladislav Chytka, G. Cataldi, Antonio Bueno, A. Weindl, P. Ristori, J. de Jesús, B. C. Manning, V. Scherini, Jakub Juryšek, A. Streich, J. Debatin, D. Mockler, David Schmidt, A. Tapia, Gioacchino Alex Anastasi, M. Wirtz, P. Ruehl, Alexandra Saftoiu, A. Puyleart, Corinne Berat, M. Giller, Roger W Clay, G. Kukec Mezek, Steffen Hahn, Juan Carlos D'Olivo, T. Pierog, M. Trini, J. Hulsman, M. E. Bertaina, Esteban Roulet, Justin M. Albury, Francesco Fenu, Valerio Pirronello, H. Gemmeke, A. Menshikov, Denis Stanca, C. J. Todero Peixoto, Piera Luisa Ghia, Miroslav Pech, M. Pothast, Jeffrey A. Johnsen, M. Schimassek, C. Hojvat, Jan Ebr, Pavel Horvath, C. O. Escobar, A. Insolia, H. Wilczyński, Günter Sigl, M. Unger, M. Kleifges, D. Zavrtanik, A.D. Supanitsky, J. Pȩkala, B. Andrada, P. Stassi, A. Cancio, Sofia Andringa, Radomir Smida, A. Machado Payeras, Jacco Vink, V. de Souza, Gualberto Avila, P. Savina, H.O. Klages, M. I. Micheletti, M.P. Panetta, I. Allekotte, M. J. Roncoroni, A. A. Nucita, Ralf Ulrich, B. Vargas Cárdenas, T. Suomijärvi, J. Pallotta, John Farmer, Brian Fick, A. M. Botti, Maria-Teresa Dova, M. R. Hampel, Niraj Dhital, I. Valiño, L. Nožka, Jörg R. Hörandel, R.C. dos Anjos, M. Zavrtanik, Adriana Vásquez-Ramírez, M. Palatka, A. C. Fauth, Giovanni Consolati, Carla Bonifazi, Jose A. Bellido, Fabio Convenga, M. Urban, W. M. Namasaka, A. C. Rovero, Petr Schovanek, Alexandru Balaceanu, M. Suárez-Durán, Carla Aramo, Vincenzo Rizi, I.D. Vergara Quispe, Julien Souchard, D. Martello, M. Ziolkowski, O. Martínez Bravo, Silvia Mollerach, N. Fazzini, Jonas Glombitza, F. C. T. Barbato, J. Chudoba, Serguei Vorobiov, O. A. Taborda, Marcos Cerda, D. Lo Presti, S. J. De Jong, Jarryd A. Day, A.C. Cobos Cerutti, J. R. T. de Mello Neto, W. Rodrigues de Carvalho, Teresa Bister, G. Golup, Nataliia Borodai, K. Choi, Paul Sommers, A. Blanco, F. Sánchez, Antonio Condorelli, Christine Peters, A.L. Garcia Vegas, Luis A. Anchordoqui, Maria Rita Coluccia, Julian Kemp, Philipp Papenbreer, Petr Travnicek, Martina Bohacova, Trent D. Grubb, M. A. Muller, Hernán Asorey, Juan Manuel Figueira, Roberta Colalillo, Giovanni Mancarella, A. G. Mariazzi, Xavier Bertou, A. Zepeda, Juan Pablo Gongora, Pedro Assis, H. Martinez, G. Torralba Elipe, A. Etchegoyen, L. Valore, Alex Kääpä, Patricia María Hansen, Marco Giammarchi, V. Novotny, Octavian Sima, Rossella Caruso, A. Lucero, Fernando Catalani, G. De Mauro, Caterina Trimarelli, H. Schieler, Q. Dorosti, I. Lhenry-Yvon, Antonella Castellina, Vladimir Lenok, L. Perrone, Thomas Bretz, Corbin Covault, Lino Miramonti, D. de Oliveira Franco, Isabel Goos, D. Heck, M. del Río, M. Risse, Jonathan Blazek, Charles Timmermans, G. Parente, Fabrizia Canfora, L. Zehrer, J. de Oliveira, Alejandro Almela, Carla Bleve, Rodrigo Guedes Lang, Laboratoire de Physique Subatomique et de Cosmologie (LPSC), Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules du CNRS (IN2P3)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université Grenoble Alpes (UGA)-Institut polytechnique de Grenoble - Grenoble Institute of Technology (Grenoble INP ), Université Grenoble Alpes (UGA), Laboratoire de Physique des 2 Infinis Irène Joliot-Curie (IJCLab), Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules du CNRS (IN2P3)-Université Paris-Saclay-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Laboratoire de Physique Nucléaire et de Hautes Énergies (LPNHE (UMR_7585)), Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules du CNRS (IN2P3)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université de Paris (UP), and Pierre Auger
- Subjects
Physics and Astronomy (miscellaneous) ,air ,Physics::Instrumentation and Detectors ,Astrophysics::High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena ,UHE [cosmic radiation] ,Cosmic ray ,01 natural sciences ,Auger ,detector: fluorescence ,Nuclear physics ,5/3 ,0103 physical sciences ,muon: density ,ddc:530 ,cosmic radiation: UHE ,010306 general physics ,Engineering (miscellaneous) ,Physics ,Pierre Auger Observatory ,fluorescence [detector] ,detector [muon] ,Muon ,showers: atmosphere ,hybrid ,010308 nuclear & particles physics ,muon: detector ,Astrophysics::Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics ,observatory ,Air shower ,density [muon] ,13. Climate action ,Content (measure theory) ,High Energy Physics::Experiment ,[PHYS.ASTR]Physics [physics]/Astrophysics [astro-ph] ,Muon detector ,atmosphere [showers] - Abstract
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 $$2\times 10^{17}$$2×1017 and $$2\times 10^{18}$$2×1018 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 $$10^{{17.5}}\, {\mathrm{eV}} $$1017.5eV and $$10^{{18}}\, {\mathrm{eV}} $$1018eV. We find that, for the models to explain the data, an increase in the muon density of $$38\%$$38%$$\pm 4\% (12\%)$$±4%(12%)$$\pm {}^{21\%}_{18\%}$$±18%21% for EPOS-LHC, and of $$50\% (53\%)$$50%(53%)$$\pm 4\% (13\%)$$±4%(13%)$$\pm {}^{23\%}_{20\%}$$±20%23% for QGSJetII-04, is respectively needed.
- Published
- 2020