Published May 2, 2024
0 views Journal article Open Access Open Access

Testing hadronic-model predictions of depth of maximum of air-shower profiles and ground-particle signals using hybrid data of the Pierre Auger Observatory

Creators

  • 1. University of Adelaide
  • 2. Universidade de Lisboa—UL
  • 3. Osservatorio Astrofisico di Torino (INAF)
  • 4. INFN
  • 5. Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare
  • 6. Centro Atómico Bariloche and Instituto Balseiro (CNEA-UNCuyo-CONICET)
  • 7. Institute of Nuclear Physics PAN
  • 8. Instituto de Tecnologías en Detección y Astropartículas (CNEA, CONICET, UNSAM)
  • 9. Universidad Tecnológica Nacional—Facultad Regional Buenos Aires
  • 10. Gran Sasso Science Institute
  • 11. INFN Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso
  • 12. Universidade de Santiago de Compostela
  • 13. University of Santiago de Compostela
  • 14. Università di Catania
  • 15. City University of New York
  • 16. Università di Milano
  • 17. RWTH Aachen University
  • 18. Università Torino
  • 19. Universidad Michoacana de San Nicolás de Hidalgo
  • 20. Observatorio Pierre Auger and Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica
  • 21. Università dell'Aquila
  • 22. Institute of Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences
  • 23. Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic
  • 24. Colorado School of Mines
  • 25. Universidad Nacional de San Agustin de Arequipa
  • 26. Univ. Grenoble Alpes
  • 27. Instituto de Física de Rosario (IFIR)—CONICET/U.N.R. and Facultad de Ciencias Bioquímicas y Farmacéuticas U.N.R.
  • 28. Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT)
  • 29. Karlsruhe Institute of Technology
  • 30. Institute for Experimental Particle Physics
  • 31. Radboud University Nijmegen
  • 32. Nationaal Instituut voor Kernfysica en Hoge Energie Fysica (NIKHEF)
  • 33. Université Paris-Saclay
  • 34. International Center of Advanced Studies and Instituto de Ciencias Físicas
  • 35. Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro
  • 36. Federal University of Rio de Janeiro
  • 37. Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP)
  • 38. State University of Campinas
  • 39. Universidad de Granada and C.A.F.P.E.
  • 40. University of Granada
  • 41. Vrije Universiteit Brussels
  • 42. Università di Palermo
  • 43. Universidad Autónoma de Chiapas
  • 44. Universidad Tecnológica Nacional—Facultad Regional Mendoza (CONICET/CNEA)
  • 45. Universidade de São Paulo
  • 46. University of São Paulo
  • 47. Observatorio Pierre Auger
  • 48. Palacky University
  • 49. Università di Napoli "Federico II"
  • 50. Politecnico di Milano
  • 51. Polytechnic University of Milan
  • 52. Università del Salento
  • 53. Universidade Federal Fluminense
  • 54. Case Western Reserve University
  • 55. Universität Siegen
  • 56. Universidad Nacional de La Plata and CONICET
  • 57. Instituto de Astronomía y Física del Espacio (IAFE, CONICET-UBA)
  • 58. Universidad de Buenos Aires and CONICET
  • 59. University of Buenos Aires
  • 60. Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ)
  • 61. Instituto Federal de Educação
  • 62. "Horia Hulubei" National Institute for Physics and Nuclear Engineering
  • 63. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México
  • 64. National Autonomous University of Mexico
  • 65. Centro Brasileiro de Pesquisas Fisicas
  • 66. Universidade Federal do Paraná
  • 67. Federal University of Paraná
  • 68. Stichting Astronomisch Onderzoek in Nederland (ASTRON)
  • 69. New York University
  • 70. Michigan Technological University
  • 71. J. Stefan Institute
  • 72. University of Nova Gorica
  • 73. University of Delaware
  • 74. University of Chicago
  • 75. Bergische Universität Wuppertal
  • 76. Universidade Estadual de Feira de Santana
  • 77. Institute of Space Science
  • 78. Centro Federal de Educação Tecnológica Celso Suckow da Fonseca
  • 79. Universidade Federal do ABC
  • 80. Sorbonne Université
  • 81. University of Wisconsin-Madison
  • 82. Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB)
  • 83. Université libre de Bruxelles
  • 84. Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla
  • 85. Università di Roma "Tor Vergata"
  • 86. Laboratorio Atmósfera—Departamento de Investigaciones en Láseres y sus Aplicaciones—UNIDEF (CITEDEF-CONICET)
  • 87. Charles University
  • 88. Charles University in Prague
  • 89. Universidad Industrial de Santander
  • 90. Unidad Profesional Interdisciplinaria en Ingeniería y Tecnologías Avanzadas del Instituto Politécnico Nacional (UPIITA-IPN)
  • 91. Instituto Politécnico Nacional
  • 92. Universidade Federal de Campina Grande
  • 93. Universität Hamburg
  • 94. University of Hamburg
  • 95. Istituto di Astrofisica Spaziale e Fisica Cosmica di Palermo (INAF)
  • 96. University of Łódź
  • 97. Universidad de Medellín
  • 98. Universiteit van Amsterdam
  • 99. University of Amsterdam

Description

We test the predictions of hadronic interaction models regarding the depth of maximum of air-shower profiles, Xmax, and ground-particle signals in water-Cherenkov detectors at 1000 m from the shower core, S(1000), using the data from the fluorescence and surface detectors of the Pierre Auger Observatory. The test consists of fitting the measured two-dimensional (S(1000), Xmax) distributions using templates for simulated air showers produced with hadronic interaction models pos-, et--04, 2.3d and leaving the scales of predicted Xmax and the signals from hadronic component at ground as free-fit parameters. The method relies on the assumption that the mass composition remains the same at all zenith angles, while the longitudinal shower development and attenuation of ground signal depend on the mass composition in a correlated way. The analysis was applied to 2239 events detected by both the fluorescence and surface detectors of the Pierre Auger Observatory with energies between 1018.5  eV to 1019.0  eV and zenith angles below 60°. We found, that within the assumptions of the method, the best description of the data is achieved if the predictions of the hadronic interaction models are shifted to deeper Xmax values and larger hadronic signals at all zenith angles. Given the magnitude of the shifts and the data sample size, the statistical significance of the improvement of data description using the modifications considered in the paper is larger than 5σ even for any linear combination of experimental systematic uncertainties. Published by the American Physical Society 2024
Enabled by The Lens

Open Access

Licence Attribution (CC BY)
Publisher Website Access full text