Direct measurement of the muonic content of extensive air showers between 2 × 10¹⁷ and 2 × 10¹⁸ eV at the Pierre Auger Observatory

• Autores: Calcagni, Laura Randa; Dova, María Teresa; Hansen, Patricia María; Mariazzi, Analisa Gabriela; Sciutto, Sergio Juan; Tueros, Matías Jorge; Vergara Quispe, Indira Dajhana; Wahlberg, Hernán Pablo; The Pierre Auger Collaboration
• Año de publicación: 2020
• Idioma: inglés
• Tipo de recurso: artículo
• Materia: Ciencias Exactas; Física; Cosmic ray; Physics; Air shower; Energy; Muon
• Institución: Universidad Nacional de La Plata

The hybrid design of the Pierre Auger Observatory allows for the measurement of the properties of extensive air showers initiated by ultra-high energy cosmic rays with unprecedented precision. By using an array of prototype underground muon detectors, we have performed the first direct measurement, by the Auger Collaboration, of the muon content of air showers between 2 × 10¹⁷ and 2 × 10¹⁸ eV. We have studied the energy evolution of the attenuation-corrected muon density, and compared it to predictions from air shower simulations. The observed densities are found to be larger than those predicted by models. We quantify this discrepancy by combining the measurements from the muon detector with those from the Auger fluorescence detector at 10^17.5 eV and 10¹⁸ eV. We find that, for the models to explain the data, an increase in the muon density of 38% ± 4%(12%) ± ^21%_18% for EPOS- LHC, and of 50%(53%) ± 4%(13%) ± ^23%_20% for QGSJetII- 04, is respectively needed.
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Facultad de Ciencias Exactas
Instituto de Física La Plata