RT Journal Article
T1 Evidence for a mixed mass composition at the 'ankle' in the cosmic-ray spectrum
A1 Arqueros Martínez, Fernando
A1 García Pinto, Diego
A1 otros, ...
AB We report a first measurement for ultrahigh energy cosmic rays of the correlation between the depth of shower maximum and the signal in the water Cherenkov stations of air-showers registered simultaneously by the fluorescence and the surface detectors of the Pierre Auger Observatory. Such a correlation measurement is a unique feature of a hybrid air-shower observatory with sensitivity to both the electromagnetic and muonic components. It allows an accurate determination of the spread of primary masses in the cosmic-ray flux. Up till now, constraints on the spread of primary masses have been dominated by systematic uncertainties. The present correlation measurement is not affected by systematics in the measurement of the depth of shower maximum or the signal in the water Cherenkov stations. The analysis relies on general characteristics of air showers and is thus robust also with respect to uncertainties in hadronic event generators. The observed correlation in the energy range around the 'ankle' at lg(E/eV) = 18.5-19.0 differs significantly from expectations for pure primary cosmic-ray compositions. A light composition made up of proton and helium only is equally inconsistent with observations. The data are explained well by a mixed composition including nuclei with mass A > 4. Scenarios such as the proton dip model, with almost pure compositions, are thus disfavored as the sole explanation of the ultrahigh-energy cosmic-ray flux at Earth. (C) 2016 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V.
PB Elsevier Science BV
SN 0370-2693
YR 2016
FD 2016-11-10
LK https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/17796
UL https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/17796
LA eng
NO Autoría conjunta: Pierre Auger Collaboration. Artículo firmado por más de 10 autores.The successful installation, commissioning, and operation of the Pierre Auger Observatory would not have been possible without the strong commitment and effort from the technical and administrative staff in Malargue. We are very grateful to the following agencies and organizations for financial support:r Comision Nacional de Energia Atomica, Agencia Nacional de Promocion Cientifica y Tecnologica (ANPCyT), Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Cientificas y Tecnicas (CONICET), Gobierno de la Provincia de Mendoza, Municipalidad de Malargue, NDM Holdings and Valle Las Lenas, in gratitude for their continuing cooperation over land access, Argentina; the Australian Research Council; Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Cientifico e Tecnologico (CNPq), Financiadora de Estudos e Projetos (FINEP), Fundacao de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado de Rio de Janeiro (FAPERJ), Sao Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP) Grants No. 2010/07359-6 and No. 1999/05404-3, Ministerio de Ciencia e Tecnologia (MCT), Brazil; Grant No. MSMT CR LG15014, LO1305 and LM2015038 and the Czech Science Foundation Grant No. 14-17501S, Czech Republic; Centre de Calcul IN2P3/CNRS, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Conseil Regional Ile-de-France, Departement Physique Nucleaire et Corpusculaire (PNC-IN2P3/CNRS), Departement Sciences de l'Univers (SDU-INSU/CNRS), Institut Lagrange de Paris (ILP) Grant No. LABEX ANR-10-LABX-63, within the Investissements d'Avenir Programme Grant No. ANR-11-IDEX-0004-02, France; Bundesministerium fur Bildung und Forschung (BMBF), Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG), Finanzministerium Baden-Wurttemberg, Helmholtz Alliance for Astroparticle Physics (HAP), Helmholtz-Gemeinschaft Deutscher Forschungszentren (HGF), Ministerium fur Wissenschaft und Forschung, Nordrhein Westfalen, Ministerium fur Wissenschaft, Forschung und Kunst, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany; Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN), Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica (INAF), Ministero dell'Istruzione, dell'Universita e della Ricerca (MIUR), Gran Sasso Center for Astroparticle Physics (CFA), CETEMPS Center of Excellence, Ministero degli Affari Esteri (MAE), Italy; Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnologia (CONACYT) No. 167733, Mexico; Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico (UNAM), PAPIIT DGAPA-UNAM, Mexico; Ministerie van Onderwijs, Cultuur en Wetenschap, Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek (NWO), Stichting voor Fundamenteel Onderzoek der Materie (FOM), Netherlands; National Centre for Research and Development, Grants No. ERA-NET-ASPERA/01/11 and No. ERA-NET-ASPERA/02/11, National Science Centre, Grants No. 2013/08/M/ST9/00322, No. 2013/08/M/ST9/00728 and No. HARMONIA 5 - 2013/10/M/ST9/00062, Poland; Portuguese national funds and FEDER funds within Programa Operacional Factores de Competitividade through Fundacao para a Ciencia e a Tecnologia (COMPETE), Portugal; Romanian Authority for Scientific Research ANCS, CNDI-UEFISCDI partnership projects Grants No. 20/2012 and No. 194/2012 and PN 16 42 01 02; Slovenian Research Agency, Slovenia; Comunidad de Madrid, Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (FEDER) funds, Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad, Xunta de Galicia, European Community 7th Framework Program, Grant No. FP7-PEOPLE-2012-IEF-328826, Spain; Science and Technology Facilities Council, United Kingdom; Department of Energy, Contracts No. DE-AC02-07CH11359, No. DE-FR02-04ER41300, No. DE-FG02-99ER41107 and No. DE-SC0011689, National Science Foundation, Grant No.; 0450696, The Grainger Foundation, USA; NAFOSTED, Vietnam; Marie Curie-IRSES/EPLANET, European Particle Physics Latin American Network, European Union 7th Framework Program, Grant No. PIRSES-2009-GA-246806; and UNESCO.
NO Unión Europea. FP7
NO Czech Science Foundation, Czech Republic
NO Centre de Calcul IN2P3/CNRS, France
NO Departement Physique Nucleaire et Corpusculaire (PNC-IN2P3/CNRS), France
NO Departement Sciences de l'Univers (SDU-INSU/CNRS), France
NO Institut Lagrange de Paris (ILP), France within the Investissements d'Avenir Programme
NO Bundesministerium fur Bildung und Forschung (BMBF), Germany
NO Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG), Germany
NO Finanzministerium Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany
NO Helmholtz Alliance for Astroparticle Physics (HAP), Germany
NO Helmholtz-Gemeinschaft Deutscher Forschungszentren (HGF), Germany
NO Ministerium fur Wissenschaft und Forschung, Nordrhein Westfalen, Germany
NO Ministerium fur Wissenschaft, Forschung und Kunst, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany
NO Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN), Italy
NO Ministero dell'Istruzione, dell'Universita e della Ricerca (MIUR), Italy
NO Gran Sasso Center for Astroparticle Physics (CFA), Italy
NO CETEMPS Center of Excellence, Italy
NO Ministero degli Affari Esteri (MAE), Italy
NO Ministerie van Onderwijs, Cultuur en Wetenschap, Netherlands
NO Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek (NWO), Netherlands
NO Stichting voor Fundamenteel Onderzoek der Materie (FOM), Netherlands
NO National Centre for Research and Development, Poland
NO National Science Centre, Poland
NO Portuguese national funds Programa Operacional Factores de Competitividade through Fundacao para a Ciencia e a Tecnologia (COMPETE), Portugal
NO FEDER funds within Programa Operacional Factores de Competitividade through Fundacao para a Ciencia e a Tecnologia (COMPETE), Portugal
NO Romanian Authority for Scientific Research ANCS, CNDI-UEFISCDI partnership projects
NO Slovenian Research Agency, Slovenia
NO Comunidad de Madrid
NO Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (FEDER) funds, Spain
NO Xunta de Galicia, Spain
NO Science and Technology Facilities Council, United Kingdom
NO UNESCO
DS Docta Complutense
RD 18 abr 2025