Estimation of the proton-air cross section with the Pierre Auger Observatory

THE PIERRE AUGER COLLABORATION (AUTOR 434 DE 474); M. TUEROS (COAUTOR)

Beijing

Conferencia; 32nd International Cosmic Ray Conference 2011; 2011

Institute of High Energy Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences

Using the tail of the distribution of the depth of shower maxima observed with the Pierre Auger Observatory, we derive an estimate of the proton-air cross-section for particle production at center-of-mass energies of 57 TeV. Air showers observed with the fluorescence detector and at least one station of the surface detector array are analysed in the energy range from 1018 to 1018.5 eV. Systematic uncertainties in the cross-section estimate arising from the limited knowledge of the primary mass composition, the need to use shower simulations and the selection of showers are studied in detail.