Related papers: Maximum entropy analysis of cosmic ray composition
In this work we estimate the heavy quark production in the interaction of ultra high energy cosmic rays in the atmosphere, considering that the primary cosmic ray is a proton or a photon. At these energies the saturation momentum Q_{sat}^2…
We evaluate the consistency of hadronic interaction models in the CORSIKA simulation package with publicly available fluorescence telescope data from the Pierre Auger Observatory. By comparing the first few central moments of the extended…
The physics of Ultra High Energy Cosmic Rays will be reviewed, discussing the latest experimental results and theoretical models aiming at explaining the observations in terms of spectra, mass composition and possible sources. It will be…
We review the physics of the highest energy cosmic rays. The discovery of their sources, still unknown, will reveal the most energetic astrophysical objects in the universe and could unveil new physics beyond the standard model of particle…
Recent measurements at the LHC of the p-p total cross section have reduced the uncertainty in simulations of cosmic ray air showers. In particular of the depth of shower maximum, called $X_{max}$. However, uncertainties of other important…
Numerical methods for the description of nonequilibrium many-particle quantum systems such as equation of motion techniques often cannot compute the full statistics of observables but only moments of it, such as mean, variance and…
Extended air showers originate from interactions between ultra-high-energy cosmic rays and nuclei in the Earth's atmosphere. At present there are some discrepancies between experimental observed properties of these air showers and…
EGRET data are usually analysed on the basis of the Maximum-Likelihood method \cite{ma96} in a search for point sources in excess to a model for the background radiation (e.g. \cite{hu97}). This method depends strongly on the quality of the…
Ultra-high energy cosmic rays (UHECRs) interacting with the atmosphere generate extensive air showers (EAS) of secondary particles. The depth corresponding to the maximum development of the shower, $\Xmax$, is a well-known observable for…
The Gerasimova-Zatsepin effect of collisions of ultra-high-energy cosmic ray nuclei with photons emitted by the sun may cause two simultaneous air showers on Earth. This effect is simulated using the full energy spectrum of solar photons,…
We revisit and extend the analysis supporting a 60 year-old suggestion that cosmic rays air showers resulting from primary particles with energies above 10^{18} eV should be straightforward to detect with radar ranging techniques, where the…
The Sun provides a standard reference against which we compare the chemical abundances found anywhere else in the Universe. Nevertheless, there is not a unique 'solar' composition, since the chemical abundances found in the solar interior,…
At high energy, cosmic rays can only be studied by measuring the extensive air showers they produce in the atmosphere of the Earth. Although the main features of air showers can be understood within a simple model of successive…
Future experiments based on the observation of Earth's atmosphere from sub-orbital and orbital altitudes plan to include optical Cherenkov cameras to observe extensive air showers produced by high-energy cosmic radiation via its interaction…
Using the Auger mass-composition analysis of ultra high energy cosmic rays, based on the shape-fitting of $X_{max}$ distributions, we demonstrate that mass composition and energy spectra measured by Auger, Telescope Array and HiRes can be…
We present a method to determine the proton-to-helium ratio in cosmic rays at ultra-high energies. It makes use of the exponential slope, $\Lambda$, of the tail of the $X_{\rm max}$ distribution measured by an air shower experiment. The…
To simulate the interaction of cosmic rays with the Earth atmosphere requires highly complex computational resources and several statistical techniques have been developed to simplify those calculations. It is common to implement the…
We study the spectrum and average mass composition of cosmic rays with primary energies between 10^{17} eV and 10^{18} eV using a hybrid detector consisting of the High Resolution Fly's Eye (HiRes) prototype and the MIA muon array.…
The principle of maximum entropy is a broadly applicable technique for computing a distribution with the least amount of information possible constrained to match empirical data, for instance, feature expectations. We seek to generalize…
We report a calculation of the expected rate of inclined air showers induced by ultra high energy cosmic rays to be obtained by the Auger Southern Observatory assuming different mass compositions. We describe some features that can be used…