Published January 8, 2024
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Radio measurements of the depth of air-shower maximum at the Pierre Auger Observatory

Creators

  • 1. University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia
  • 2. University of Adelaide
  • 3. Laboratório de Instrumentação e Física Experimental de Partículas—LIP and Instituto Superior Técnico—IST, Universidade de Lisboa—UL, Lisboa, Portugal
  • 4. Osservatorio Astrofisico di Torino (INAF), Torino, Italy
  • 5. INFN, Sezione di Torino, Torino, Italy
  • 6. Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare
  • 7. Centro Atómico Bariloche and Instituto Balseiro (CNEA-UNCuyo-CONICET), San Carlos de Bariloche, Argentina
  • 8. Institute of Nuclear Physics PAN, Krakow, Poland
  • 9. Instituto de Tecnologías en Detección y Astropartículas (CNEA, CONICET, UNSAM), Buenos Aires, Argentina
  • 10. Universidad Tecnológica Nacional—Facultad Regional Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina
  • 11. Gran Sasso Science Institute, L'Aquila, Italy
  • 12. INFN Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso, Assergi (L'Aquila), Italy
  • 13. Instituto Galego de Física de Altas Enerxías (IGFAE), Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, Santiago de Compostela, Spain
  • 14. University of Santiago de Compostela
  • 15. Department of Physics and Astronomy, Lehman College, City University of New York, Bronx, New York, USA
  • 16. City University of New York
  • 17. Center for Astrophysics and Cosmology (CAC), University of Nova Gorica, Nova Gorica, Slovenia
  • 18. Università di Milano, Dipartimento di Fisica, Milano, Italy
  • 19. INFN, Sezione di Milano, Milano, Italy
  • 20. INFN, Sezione di Napoli, Napoli, Italy
  • 21. RWTH Aachen University, III. Physikalisches Institut A, Aachen, Germany
  • 22. RWTH Aachen University
  • 23. Università Torino, Dipartimento di Fisica, Torino, Italy
  • 24. Universidad Michoacana de San Nicolás de Hidalgo, Morelia, Michoacán, México
  • 25. Observatorio Pierre Auger and Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica, Malargüe, Argentina
  • 26. Università dell'Aquila, Dipartimento di Scienze Fisiche e Chimiche, L'Aquila, Italy
  • 27. Institute of Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague, Czech Republic
  • 28. Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic
  • 29. Colorado School of Mines, Golden, Colorado, USA
  • 30. Universidad Nacional de San Agustin de Arequipa, Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Formales, Arequipa, Peru
  • 31. Univ. Grenoble Alpes, CNRS, Grenoble Institute of Engineering Univ. Grenoble Alpes, LPSC-IN2P3, 38000 Grenoble, France
  • 32. Instituto de Física de Rosario (IFIR)—CONICET/U.N.R. and Facultad de Ciencias Bioquímicas y Farmacéuticas U.N.R., Rosario, Argentina
  • 33. Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Institute for Experimental Particle Physics, Karlsruhe, Germany
  • 34. Karlsruhe Institute of Technology
  • 35. IMAPP, Radboud University Nijmegen, Nijmegen, Netherlands
  • 36. Radboud University Nijmegen
  • 37. Nationaal Instituut voor Kernfysica en Hoge Energie Fysica (NIKHEF), Science Park, Amsterdam, Netherlands
  • 38. Université Paris-Saclay, CNRS/IN2P3, IJCLab, Orsay, France
  • 39. Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Institute for Astroparticle Physics, Karlsruhe, Germany
  • 40. International Center of Advanced Studies and Instituto de Ciencias Físicas, ECyT-UNSAM and CONICET, Campus Miguelete—San Martín, Buenos Aires, Argentina
  • 41. Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Instituto de Física, Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
  • 42. Federal University of Rio de Janeiro
  • 43. Universidade Estadual de Campinas, IFGW, Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil
  • 44. State University of Campinas
  • 45. Universidad de Granada and C.A.F.P.E., Granada, Spain
  • 46. University of Granada
  • 47. Vrije Universiteit Brussels, Brussels, Belgium
  • 48. INFN, Sezione di Catania, Catania, Italy
  • 49. Università di Palermo, Dipartimento di Fisica e Chimica "E. Segrè," Palermo, Italy
  • 50. Universidad Autónoma de Chiapas, Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Chiapas, México
  • 51. Università di Catania, Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia "Ettore Majorana", Catania, Italy
  • 52. Universidade de São Paulo, Escola de Engenharia de Lorena, Lorena, São Paulo, Brazil
  • 53. University of São Paulo
  • 54. INFN, Sezione di Lecce, Lecce, Italy
  • 55. Observatorio Pierre Auger, Malargüe, Argentina
  • 56. Palacky University, Olomouc, Czech Republic
  • 57. Instituto de Tecnologías en Detección y Astropartículas (CNEA, CONICET, UNSAM), and Universidad Tecnológica Nacional—Facultad Regional Mendoza (CONICET/CNEA), Mendoza, Argentina
  • 58. Università di Napoli "Federico II", Dipartimento di Fisica "Ettore Pancini," Napoli, Italy
  • 59. University of Delaware, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Bartol Research Institute, Newark, Delaware, USA
  • 60. University of Delaware
  • 61. Politecnico di Milano, Dipartimento di Scienze e Tecnologie Aerospaziali, Milano, Italy
  • 62. Polytechnic University of Milan
  • 63. Università del Salento, Dipartimento di Matematica e Fisica "E. De Giorgi," Lecce, Italy
  • 64. Universidade Federal Fluminense, EEIMVR, Volta Redonda, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
  • 65. Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio, USA
  • 66. Case Western Reserve University
  • 67. Universität Siegen, Department Physik—Experimentelle Teilchenphysik, Siegen, Germany
  • 68. IFLP, Universidad Nacional de La Plata and CONICET, La Plata, Argentina
  • 69. Instituto de Astronomía y Física del Espacio (IAFE, CONICET-UBA), Buenos Aires, Argentina
  • 70. Departamento de Física and Departamento de Ciencias de la Atmósfera y los Océanos, FCEyN, Universidad de Buenos Aires and CONICET, Buenos Aires, Argentina
  • 71. University of Buenos Aires
  • 72. Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), Observatório do Valongo, Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
  • 73. Instituto Federal de Educação, Ciência e Tecnologia do Rio de Janeiro (IFRJ), Brazil
  • 74. Universidade de São Paulo, Instituto de Física de São Carlos, São Carlos, São Paulo, Brazil
  • 75. CNRS/IN2P3, IJCLab, Université Paris-Saclay, Orsay, France
  • 76. "Horia Hulubei" National Institute for Physics and Nuclear Engineering, Bucharest-Magurele, Romania
  • 77. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, México, Distrito Federal, México
  • 78. National Autonomous University of Mexico
  • 79. Centro Brasileiro de Pesquisas Fisicas, Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
  • 80. Universidade Federal do Paraná, Setor Palotina, Palotina, Brazil
  • 81. Federal University of Paraná
  • 82. Stichting Astronomisch Onderzoek in Nederland (ASTRON), Dwingeloo, Netherlands
  • 83. University of Chicago, Enrico Fermi Institute, Chicago, Illinois, USA
  • 84. University of Chicago
  • 85. New York University, New York, New York, USA
  • 86. New York University
  • 87. Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Institut für Prozessdatenverarbeitung und Elektronik, Karlsruhe, Germany
  • 88. Michigan Technological University, Houghton, Michigan, USA
  • 89. Experimental Particle Physics Department, J. Stefan Institute, Ljubljana, Slovenia
  • 90. Bergische Universität Wuppertal, Department of Physics, Wuppertal, Germany
  • 91. Universidade Estadual de Feira de Santana, Feira de Santana, Brazil
  • 92. Institute of Space Science, Bucharest-Magurele, Romania
  • 93. Centro Federal de Educação Tecnológica Celso Suckow da Fonseca, Petropolis, Brazil
  • 94. Universidade Federal do ABC, Santo André, São Paulo, Brazil
  • 95. Laboratoire de Physique Nucléaire et de Hautes Energies (LPNHE), Sorbonne Université, Université de Paris, CNRS-IN2P3, Paris, France
  • 96. University of Paris
  • 97. University of Wisconsin-Madison, Department of Physics and WIPAC, Madison, Wisconsin, USA
  • 98. University of Wisconsin-Madison
  • 99. Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB), Brussels, Belgium
  • 100. Université libre de Bruxelles
  • 101. Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla, Puebla, México
  • 102. Università di Roma "Tor Vergata", Dipartimento di Fisica, Roma, Italy
  • 103. INFN, Sezione di Roma "Tor Vergata," Roma, Italy
  • 104. Laboratorio Atmósfera—Departamento de Investigaciones en Láseres y sus Aplicaciones—UNIDEF (CITEDEF-CONICET), Argentina
  • 105. Charles University, Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, Institute of Particle and Nuclear Physics, Prague, Czech Republic
  • 106. Charles University in Prague
  • 107. Universidad Industrial de Santander, Bucaramanga, Colombia
  • 108. Unidad Profesional Interdisciplinaria en Ingeniería y Tecnologías Avanzadas del Instituto Politécnico Nacional (UPIITA-IPN), México, Distrito Federal, México
  • 109. Instituto Politécnico Nacional
  • 110. Universidade Federal de Campina Grande, Centro de Ciencias e Tecnologia, Campina Grande, Brazil
  • 111. Universidade de São Paulo, Instituto de Física, São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
  • 112. Universität Hamburg, II. Institut für Theoretische Physik, Hamburg, Germany
  • 113. University of Hamburg
  • 114. Istituto di Astrofisica Spaziale e Fisica Cosmica di Palermo (INAF), Palermo, Italy
  • 115. University of Łódź, Faculty of High-Energy Astrophysics,Łódź, Poland
  • 116. Universidad de Medellín, Medellín, Colombia
  • 117. Universiteit van Amsterdam, Faculty of Science, Amsterdam, Netherlands
  • 118. University of Amsterdam

Description

The (AERA), part of the Pierre Auger Observatory, is currently the largest array of radio antenna stations deployed for the detection of cosmic rays, spanning an area of 17  km2 with 153 radio stations. It detects the radio emission of extensive air showers produced by cosmic rays in the 30–80 MHz band. Here, we report the AERA measurements of the (Xmax), a probe for mass composition, at cosmic-ray energies between 1017.5 and 1018.8  eV, which show agreement with earlier measurements with the fluorescence technique at the Pierre Auger Observatory. We show advancements in the method for radio Xmax reconstruction by comparison to dedicated sets of / air-shower simulations, including steps of reconstruction-bias identification and correction, which is of particular importance for irregular or sparse radio arrays. Using the largest set of radio air-shower measurements to date, we show the radio Xmax resolution as a function of energy, reaching a resolution better than 15  g cm−2 at the highest energies, demonstrating that radio Xmax measurements are competitive with the established high-precision fluorescence technique. In addition, we developed a procedure for performing an extensive data-driven study of systematic uncertainties, including the effects of acceptance bias, reconstruction bias, and the investigation of possible residual biases. These results have been cross-checked with air showers measured independently with both the radio and fluorescence techniques, a setup unique to the Pierre Auger Observatory. Published by the American Physical Society 2024
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