Related papers: Reconstructing Air-Shower Observables using a Univ…
We present two new aspects of Extensive Air Shower (EAS) development universality allowing to make accurate estimation of muon and electromagnetic (EM) shower contents in two independent ways. In the first case, to get muon (or EM) signal…
Despite the significant experimental effort made in the last decades, the origin of the ultra high energy cosmic rays is still unknown. The chemical composition of these energetic particles carries key astrophysical information to identify…
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…
The first interactions of photon-induced showers are of electromagnetic nature, and the transfer of energy to the hadron/muon channel is reduced with respect to the bulk of hadron-induced showers. This results in a lower number of secondary…
In this work, direct measurements of the muon density at $1000\,\textrm{m}$ from the shower axis obtained by the Akeno Giant Air Shower Array (AGASA) are analysed. The selected events have zenith angles $\theta \leq 36^{\textrm{o}}$ and…
The energy spectrum of muons at ground level in air showers are studied and a new observable is proposed to constrain hadronic interaction models used in air shower simulations. An asymmetric Gaussian function is proposed to describe the…
We consider two new aspects of Extensive Air Shower development universality allowing to make accurate estimation of muon and electromagnetic (EM) shower contents in two independent ways. In the first case, to get muon (or EM) signal in…
The Pierre Auger Observatory, recently completed, has been operational since 2004. As a hybrid experiment, it allows for a wide range of measurements of UHECR-induced extensive air showers (EAS), including measurements of the EAS particle…
The knowledge of atmospheric parameters -- such as temperature, pressure, and humidity -- is very important for a proper reconstruction of air showers, especially with the fluorescence technique. The Global Data Assimilation System (GDAS)…
The ANTARES neutrino telescope is presently being built in the Mediterranean Sea at a depth of 2500 m. The primary aim of the experiment is the detection of high energy cosmic muon neutrinos, which are identified by the muons that are…
We report an investigation of the mass composition of cosmic rays with energies from 3 to 100 EeV (1 EeV=$10^{18}$ eV) using the distributions of the depth of shower maximum $X_\mathrm{max}$. The analysis relies on ${\sim}50,000$ events…
The Pierre Auger Observatory, at present the largest cosmic-ray observatory ever built, is instrumented with a ground array of 1600 water-Cherenkov detectors, known as the Surface Detector (SD). The SD samples the secondary particle content…
We introduce a simple branching model for the development of hadronic showers in the Earth's atmosphere. Based on this model, we show how the size of the pionic component followed by muons can be estimated. Several aspects of the subsequent…
Atmospheric conditions at the site of a cosmic ray observatory must be known for reconstructing observed extensive air showers. The Global Data Assimilation System (GDAS) is a global atmospheric model predicated on meteorological…
The Pierre Auger Observatory has been collecting data in a stable manner since January 2004. We present here a study of the cosmic ray composition using events recorded in hybrid mode during the first years of data taking. These are air…
We report on a study about some characteristics of muon production during the development of extended air showers initiated by ultra-high-energy cosmic rays. Using simulations with the recent new version of the AIRES air shower simulation…
On the basis of the scaling approach and CORSIKA simulations data the radial scale factor of lateral distribution of electrons in extensive air showers is confirmed as potentially effective primary mass estimator, and its sensitivity to…
The Auger Engineering Radio Array (AERA) aims at the detection of air showers induced by high-energy cosmic rays. As an extension of the Pierre Auger Observatory, it measures complementary information to the particle detectors, fluorescence…
Cosmogenic muon-induced radioactive isotopes pose a significant background source for deep-underground low-background experiments. Although rock overburdens at underground sites substantially attenuate the cosmogenic muon flux, residual…
The Pierre Auger Observatory detects ultra-high energy cosmic rays by implementing two complementary air-shower techniques. The combination of a large ground array and fluorescence detectors, known as the hybrid concept, means that a rich…