Related papers: Maximum entropy analysis of cosmic ray composition
The paper presents the results of the longitudinal development of extensive air showers (X$_{max}$) of ultra-high energies and mass composition of cosmic rays. The measurements of X$_{max}$ are based on data from observations of the…
Ultra-high energy cosmic rays impinge on the atmosphere and induce air shower cascades, in which huge numbers of particles are produced. By travelling through the Earth's atmosphere and magnetic field, these particles create a noticeable…
We study the influence of shower fluctuations, and the possible presence of different nuclear species in the primary cosmic ray spectrum, on the experimental determination of both shower energy and the proton air inelastic cross section…
We present measurements of the depth of shower maximum, Xmax, for cosmic-ray-induced extensive air showers recorded by the fluorescence detector of the Pierre Auger Observatory over 17 years. The data set covers primary energies from…
A key step towards the understanding of the origin of ultra-high energy cosmic rays is their mass composition. Primary photons and neutrinos produce markedly different showers from nuclei, while showers of different nuclear species are not…
We present arguments aiming at reconciling apparently contradictory results concerning the chemical composition of cosmic rays of highest energy, coming recently from the Auger and HiRes collaborations. In particular, we argue that the…
A Monte-Carlo study to reconstruct energy and mass of cosmic rays with energies above 300 TeV using ground based measurements of the electromagnetic part of showers initiated in the atmosphere is presented. The shower properties determined…
The mass composition of cosmic rays contains important clues about their origin. Accurate measurements are needed to resolve long-standing issues such as the transition from Galactic to extragalactic origin, and the nature of the cutoff…
Interpretation of the energy spectrum and arrival distribution of cosmic rays is complicated by lack of knowledge of the nature of the primaries. We review claims for the mass composition above 1017 eV where it can be determined only…
The mass composition of ultra-high-energy cosmic rays (UHECRs) is usually inferred from the depth of the shower maximum ($X_{\rm{max}}$) of cosmic-ray showers, which is only ambiguously determined by modern hadronic interaction models. We…
A Monte-Carlo study is presented using ground based measurements of the electromagnetic part of showers initiated in the atmosphere by high energetic cosmic rays to reconstruct energy and mass of primary particles with energies above 300…
Air fluorescence detectors traditionally determine the dominant chemical composit ion of the ultrahigh energy cosmic ray flux by comparing the averaged slant depth of the shower maximum, $X_{max}$, as a function of energy to the slant…
The observation of twenty cosmic-ray air-showers at and above 10^{20} eV poses fascinating problems for particle astrophysics: how the primary particles are accelerated to these energies, how the primaries get here through the 2.7K…
The sensitivity to the mass composition as well as the reconstruction of the energy of the primary particle are explored here by leveraging the features of the radio lateral distribution function. For the purpose of this analysis, a set of…
In air shower experiments information about the initial cosmic ray particle or about the shower development is obtained by exploiting the correlations between the quantities of interest and the directly measurable quantities. It is shown…
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…
We demonstrate that a substantial part of the present uncertainties in model predictions for the average maximum depth of cosmic ray-induced extensive air showers is related to very high energy pion-air collisions. Our analysis shows that…
In this article I review the main theoretical problems that are posed by the highest energy end of the observed cosmic ray spectrum, stressing the importance of establishing their composition in order to decide between proposed scenarios. I…
In search for new methods of determining the primary energy spectrum of Cosmic Rays, the attention was paid to the density spectrum measurement. New methods available at present warrant an accurateness of conclusions derived from the…
We discuss the problem of cosmic ray mass composition variation in wide energy region 10^{14}-10^{20} eV. The mass composition predicted in the framework of recently developed anomalous diffusion model is tested using the results of CORSIKA…