Measurement of the Depth of Maximum of Extensive Air Showers above 10(18) eV
Loading...
Date
2010-03-01
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
American Physical Society
Abstract
We describe the measurement of the depth of maximum, X-max, of the longitudinal development of air showers induced by cosmic rays. Almost 4000 events above 10(18) eV observed by the fluorescence detector of the Pierre Auger Observatory in coincidence with at least one surface detector station are selected for the analysis. The average shower maximum was found to evolve with energy at a rate of (106 +/- 35-21) g/cm(2)/decade below 10(18.24) +/- (0.05) eV, and d24 +/- 3 g/cm(2)/ecade above this energy. The measured shower-to-shower fluctuations decrease from about 55 to 26 g/cm(2). The interpretation of these results in terms of the cosmic ray mass composition is briefly discussed.
Description
Keywords
COSMIC-RAYS, FLUORESCENCE LIGHT, RESOLUTION, Physics, Multidisciplinary, Physics
Citation
Abraham, J., et al. (2010): Measurement of the Depth of Maximum of Extensive Air Showers above 10¹⁸ eV. Physical Review Letters, 104(9).
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.104.091101