Related papers: Nitrogen fluorescence in air for observing extensi…
The fluorescence detection of ultra high energy cosmic rays requires a detailed knowledge of the fluorescence light emission from nitrogen molecules over a wide range of atmospheric parameters, corresponding to altitudes typical of the…
Most of the Ultra High Energy Cosmic Ray (UHECR) experiments and projects (HiRes, AUGER, TA, EUSO, TUS,...) use air fluorescence to detect and measure extensive air showers (EAS). The precise knowledge of the Fluorescence Light Yield (FLY)…
We review all existing air-fluorescence measurements of the elongation rate of extensive air showers (slope of mean EAS shower maximum (Xmax) vs log of shower energy E) above 1017 eV. We find remarkable agreement for all current and…
The air fluorescence technique is used to detect ultra-high energy cosmic rays (UHECR), and to estimate their energy. Of fundamental importance is the photon yield due to excitation by electrons, in air of various densities and…
The Pierre Auger Observatory is a hybrid detector for ultra-high energy cosmic rays. It combines a surface array to measure secondary particles at ground level together with a fluorescence detector to measure the development of air showers…
In order to detect ultrahigh-energy cosmic rays (UHECR), atmospheric fluorescence light from the trajectory of the extensive air shower may be measured by mirror-photosensor systems. In this type of experiment the photon yield from…
Air fluorescence measurements of cosmic ray energy must be corrected for attenuation of the atmosphere. In this paper we show that the air-showers themselves can yield a measurement of the aerosol attenuation in terms of optical depth,…
Atmospheric scattering of light emitted by an air shower not only attenuates direct fluorescence light from the shower, but also contributes to the observed shower light. So far only direct and singly-scattered Cherenkov photons have been…
The Pierre Auger Observatory is a facility built to detect air showers produced by cosmic rays above 10^17 eV. During clear nights with a low illuminated moon fraction, the UV fluorescence light produced by air showers is recorded by…
A new method to reconstruct the 3-dimensional structure of extensive air showers, seen by fluorescence detectors, is proposed. The observation of the shower is done in 2-dimensional pixels, for consecutive time bins. Time corresponds to a…
In a test experiment at the Final Focus Test Beam of the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, the fluorescence yield of 28.5 GeV electrons in air and nitrogen was measured. The measured photon yields between 300 and 400 nm at 1 atm and 29…
The current status and prospects of deducing the proton-air cross section from fluorescence telescope measurements of extensive air showers are discussed. As it is not possible to observe the point of first interaction, $X_ {\rm 1}$,…
We have investigated the fluorescence emission in the Near Infrared from the air and its main components, nitrogen and oxygen. The gas was excited by a 95kV electron beam and the fluorescence light detected by an InGaAs photodiode,…
Calibrating the absolute energy scale of air showers initiated by ultra-high energy cosmic rays is an important experimental issue. Currently, the corresponding systematic uncertainty amounts to 14-21% using the fluorescence technique. Here…
Extremely high energy neutrinos propagating in the atmosphere or in the Earth can originate horizontal or upgoing air-showers, respectively. We calculate the acceptances (event rate/flux) for detecting both types of events by fluorescence…
One of the methods for studying the highest energy cosmic rays is to measure the fluorescence light emitted by the extensive air showers induced by them. To reconstruct a shower cascade curve from measurements of the number of photons…
The Pierre Auger Observatory is a facility designed for the study of ultra-high energy cosmic rays. The Observatory combines two different types of detectors: a surface array of 1600 water Cherenkov stations placed on a 1.5 km triangular…
A small contribution of molecular Bremsstrahlung radiation to the air-fluorescence yield in the UV range is estimated based on an approach previously developed in the framework of the radio-detection of showers in the gigahertz frequency…
In the fluorescence detection of ultra high energy (> 10**18 eV) cosmic rays, the number of emitted fluorescence photons is assumed to be proportional to the energy deposited in air by shower particles. We have performed measurements of the…
The possibilities of detecting high energy neutrinos through inclined showers produced in the atmosphere are addressed with an emphasis on the detection of air showers by arrays of particle detectors. Rates of inclined showers produced by…