Related papers: Depth of Maximum of Air-Shower Profiles at the Pie…
The IceCube Neutrino Observatory provides the opportunity to perform unique measurements of cosmic-ray air showers with its combination of a surface array and a deep detector. Electromagnetic particles and low-energy muons ($\sim$GeV) are…
We find that the ratio r_{mu e} of the muon to the electromagnetic component of an extended air shower at the ground level provides an indirect measure of the depth X_{max} of the shower maximum. This result, obtained with the air-shower…
The mass composition of ultra high-energy cosmic ray (UHECRs) can be inferred from measurements of $X_{\rm max}$ distributions by fitting them with Monte Carlo (MC) predictions for different primary species of nuclei in each energy…
We assume an extreme scenario, in which the arriving cosmic rays are composed of only iron nuclei at energies above $10^{19.6}\,\text{eV}\simeq40\,\text{EeV}$, while allowing a freedom in the scale of the depth of shower maximum…
Cosmic ray data may allow the determination of the proton-air cross section at ultra-high energy. For example, the distribution of the first interaction point in air showers reflects the particle production cross section. As it is not…
The Pierre Auger Observatory concluded its first phase of data taking after seventeen years of operation. The dataset collected by its surface and fluorescence detectors (FD and SD) provides us with the most precise estimates of the energy…
Using measured events from the fluorescence detector of the Pierre Auger Observatory, an unbiased distribution of the atmospheric slant depths where showers reach their maxima has been obtained. Analyzing the tail of this distribution the…
Atmospheric parameters, such as pressure (P), temperature (T) and density, affect the development of extensive air showers initiated by energetic cosmic rays. We have studied the impact of atmospheric variations on extensive air showers by…
This paper presents the highlights from the recent measurements of the energy spectrum, mass composition, and arrival directions of the ultra-high energy ($> 10^{17}$ eV = 0.1 EeV) cosmic rays (UHECR) by the Pierre Auger Observatory. The…
We study the implications of Ultra-High Energy Cosmic Ray (UHECR) data from the Pierre Auger Observatory for potential accelerator candidates and cosmogenic neutrino fluxes for different combinations of nuclear disintegration and air-shower…
The Auger Engineering Radio Array (AERA), part of the Pierre Auger Observatory, is currently the largest array of radio antenna stations deployed for the detection of cosmic rays, spanning an area of $17$ km$^2$ with 153 radio stations. It…
We analyze here the possibility of studying mass composition in the Auger data sample using neural networks as a diagnostic tool. Extensive air showers were simulated using the AIRES code, for the two hadronic interaction models in current…
We discuss that hadron-induced atmospheric air showers from ultra-high energy cosmic rays are sensitive to QCD interactions at very small momentum fractions x where nonlinear effects should become important. The leading partons from the…
The recent observations of muon charge ratio up to about 10 TeV and of atmospheric neutrinos up to energies of about 400 TeV has triggered a renewed interest into the high-energy interaction models and cosmic ray primary composition. A…
Studies of the nature of cosmic ray particles at the highest energies are based on the measurement of extensive air showers. Most cosmic ray properties can therefore only be obtained from the interpretation of air shower data and are thus…
The Pierre Auger Observatory has revealed a significant challenge in air shower physics: a discrepancy between the simulated and observed muon content in cosmic-ray interactions, known as the 'Muon Puzzle'. This issue stems from a lack of…
Atmospheric conditions, such as the pressure (P), temperature (T) or air density ($\rho \propto P/T$), affect the development of extended air showers initiated by energetic cosmic rays. We study the impact of the atmospheric variations on…
The average profiles of cosmic ray shower development as a function of atmospheric depth are measured for the first time with the Fluorescence Detectors at the Pierre Auger Observatory. The profile shapes are well reproduced by the…
Hadronic interaction models at cosmic ray (CR) energies are inherently uncertain due to the lack of a fundamental theoretical description of soft hadronic and nuclear interactions and the large extrapolation required from collider energies…
The atmospheric depth of the air shower maximum $X_{\mathrm{max}}$ is an observable commonly used for the determination of the nuclear mass composition of ultra-high energy cosmic rays. Direct measurements of $X_{\mathrm{max}}$ are…