Interpretation of the depths of maximum of extensive air showers measured by the Pierre Auger Observatory

To interpret the mean depth of cosmic ray air shower maximum and its dispersion, we parametrize those two observables as functions of the first two moments of the ln A distribution. We examine the goodness of this simple method through simulations of test mass distributions. The application of the p...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Arqueros Martínez, Fernando, Blanco Ramos, Francisco, García Pinto, Diego, Minaya Flores, Ignacio Andrés, Ortiz Ramis, Montserrat, Rosado Vélez, Jaime, Vázquez Peñas, José Ramón
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2013
País:España
Institución:Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM)
Repositorio:Docta Complutense
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:docta.ucm.es:20.500.14352/34820
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/34820
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:539.1
Energy cosmic-rays
Simulation
Particles
Model
Física nuclear
2207 Física Atómica y Nuclear
Descripción
Sumario:To interpret the mean depth of cosmic ray air shower maximum and its dispersion, we parametrize those two observables as functions of the first two moments of the ln A distribution. We examine the goodness of this simple method through simulations of test mass distributions. The application of the parameterization to Pierre Auger Observatory data allows one to study the energy dependence of the mean ln A and of its variance under the assumption of selected hadronic interaction models. We discuss possible implications of these dependences in term of interaction models and astrophysical cosmic ray sources.