IAR   05382
INSTITUTO ARGENTINO DE RADIOASTRONOMIA
Unidad Ejecutora - UE
artículos
Título:
Depth of Maximum of Air-Shower Profiles at the Auger Observatory: Measurements at Energies above 10^17.8 eV
Autor/es:
THE PIERRE AUGER COLLABORATION (AUTOR 434 DE 474); M. TUEROS
Revista:
PHYSICAL REVIEW D
Editorial:
AMER PHYSICAL SOC
Referencias:
Lugar: New York; Año: 2014 vol. 90 p. 122005 - 122029
ISSN:
1550-7998
Resumen:
We report a study of the distributions of the depth of maximum, Xmax, of extensive air-shower profiles with energies above 1017.8 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 Xmax measurement and provide parametrizations thereof as a function of energy. The energy dependence of the mean and standard deviation of the Xmax 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.