INVESTIGADORES
MARIAZZI Analisa Gabriela
artículos
Título:
A study of the effect of molecular and aerosol conditions in the atmosphere on air fluorescence measurements at the Pierre Auger Observatory
Autor/es:
PIERRE AUGER COLLABORATION (J. ABRAHAM, ... , A. MARIAZZI,ET AL)
Revista:
ASTROPARTICLE PHYSICS
Editorial:
ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV
Referencias:
Año: 2010 vol. 33 p. 108 - 129
ISSN:
0927-6505
Resumen:
Air fluorescence detectors measure the energy of ultra-high energy
cosmic rays by collecting fluorescence light emitted from nitrogen
molecules along the extensive air shower cascade. To ensure a reliable
energy determination, the light signal needs to be corrected for
atmospheric effects, which not only attenuate the signal, but also
produce a non-negligible background component due to scattered Cherenkov
light and multiple-scattered light. The correction requires regular
measurements of the aerosol attenuation length and the aerosol phase
function, defined as the probability of light scattered in a given
direction. At the Pierre Auger Observatory in Malargüe, Argentina, the
phase function is measured on an hourly basis using two aerosol phase
function (APF) light sources. These sources direct a UV light beam
across the field of view of the fluorescence detectors; the phase
function can be extracted from the image of the shots in the
fluorescence detector cameras. This paper describes the design, current
status, standard operation procedure, and performance of the APF system
at the Pierre Auger Observatory.