Interpretation of the depths of maximum of extensive air showers measured by the Pierre Auger Observatory

THE PIERRE AUGER OBSERVATORY (PATRICIA HANSEN PERTENECE A LA COLABORACION)

JOURNAL OF COSMOLOGY AND ASTROPARTICLE PHYSICS

IOP PUBLISHING LTD

Lugar: Londres; Año: 2013 vol. 26 p. 1 - 12

1475-7516

To interpret the mean depth of cosmic ray air shower maximum and its dispersion,we parametrize those two observables as functions of the rst two moments of the lnAdistribution. We examine the goodness of this simple method through simulations of testmass distributions. The application of the parameterization to Pierre Auger Observatorydata allows one to study the energy dependence of the mean lnA and of its variance underthe assumption of selected hadronic interaction models. We discuss possible implications ofthese dependences in term of interaction models and astrophysical cosmic ray sources.