First Estimate of the Primary Cosmic Ray Energy Spectrum above 3 EeV from the Pierre Auger Observatory

THE PIERRE AUGER COLLABORATION (AUTOR 384 DE 427); M. J. TUEROS

Pune, India

Conferencia; 29th International Cosmic Ray Conference; 2005

Tata Institute of Fundamental Research

Measurements of air showers are accumulating at an increasing rate while construction proceeds at the Pierre Auger Observatory. Although the southern site is only half complete, the cumulative exposure is already similar to those achieved by the largest forerunner experiments. A measurement of the cosmic ray energy spectrum in the southern sky is reported here. The methods are simple and robust, exploiting the combination of fluorescence detector (FD) and surface detector (SD). The methods do not rely on detailed numerical simulation or any assumption about the chemical composition.