The lateral shower age parameter as an estimator of chemical composition

A. TAPIA CASANOVA; D. MELO; F. SÁNCHEZ; A. SEDOSKI CROCE; A. ETCHEGOYEN; J.M. FIGUEIRA; R. GAMARRA; B. GARCÍA; N. GONZÁLEZ; M. JOSEBACHUILI; D. RAVIGNANI; I. SIDELNIK; B. WUNDHEILER

Rio de Janeiro

Conferencia; International Cosmic Rays Conference 2013; 2013

We explore the feasibility of estimating primary cosmic ray composition at ultra high energies fromthe study of lateral age parameter of Extensive Air Showers (EAS) at ground level. Using different types of lateraldistribution functions, we fit the particle density of simulated EAS to find the lateral age parameter. We discussthe chemical composition calculating the merit factor for each parameter distribution. The analysis considersthree different primary particles (proton, iron and gamma), four different zenith angles (0◦ , 15◦ , 30◦ and 45◦ )and three primary energies (1017.25 eV, 1017.50 eV and 1017.75 eV.)