Browsing by Author "Pierre Auger collaboration (496 authors)"
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- A Targeted Search for Point Sources of EeV NeutronsPublication . Pierre Auger collaboration (496 authors); Abreu, Pedro; Andringa, Sofia; Assis, Pedro; Brogueira, Pedro; Cazon, Lorenzo; Conceição, Ruben; Diogo, Francisco; Espadanal, Joao; Gonçalves, Patrícia; Oliveira, Micael; Pimenta, Mário; Santo, Catarina E; Santos, Eva; Sarmento, Raul; Tomé, BernardoA flux of neutrons from an astrophysical source in the Galaxy can be detected in the Pierre Auger Observatory as an excess of cosmic-ray air showers arriving from the direction of the source. To avoid the statistical penalty for making many trials, classes of objects are tested in combinations as nine 'target sets,' in addition to the search for a neutron flux from the Galactic center or from the Galactic plane. Within a target set, each candidate source is weighted in proportion to its electromagnetic flux, its exposure to the Auger Observatory, and its flux attenuation factor due to neutron decay. These searches do not find evidence for a neutron flux from any class of candidate sources. Tabulated results give the combined p-value for each class, with and without the weights, and also the flux upper limit for the most significant candidate source within each class. These limits on fluxes of neutrons significantly constrain models of EeV proton emission from non-transient discrete sources in the Galaxy.
- Highlights from the Pierre Auger ObservatoryPublication . Pierre Auger collaboration (496 authors); Abreu, P.; Andringa, S.; Assis, P.; Brogueira, P.; Cazon, L.; Conceicao, R.; Diogo, F.; Espadanal, J.; Goncalves, P.; Oliveira, M.; Pimenta, M.; Santo, C.E.; Santos, E.; Tome, B.The Pierre Auger Observatory is the world’s largest cosmic ray observatory. Our current exposure reaches nearly 40,000 km$^{2}$sr and provides us with an unprecedented quality data set. The performance and stability of the detectors and their enhancements are described. Data analyses have led to a number of major breakthroughs. Among these, we discuss the energy spectrum and the searches for large-scale anisotropies. We present analyses of our X$_{max}$ data and show how it can be interpreted in terms of mass composition. We also describe some new analyses that extract mass-sensitive parameters from the 100 % duty cycle surface detector (SD) data. A coherent interpretation of all these recent results opens new directions. The consequences regarding the cosmic ray composition and the properties of ultrahigh-energy cosmic ray (UHECR) sources are briefly discussed.
- Origin of atmospheric aerosols at the Pierre Auger Observatory using studies of air mass trajectories in South AmericaPublication . Pierre Auger collaboration (496 authors); Abreu, Pedro; Andringa, Sofia; Assis, Pedro; Brogueira, Pedro; Cazon, Lorenzo; Conceição, Ruben; Diogo, Francisco; Espadanal, Joao; Gonçalves, Patrícia; Oliveira, Micael; Pimenta, Mário; Santo, Catarina E; Santos, Eva; Sarmento, Raul; Tomé, BernardoThe Pierre Auger Observatory is making significant contributions towards understanding the nature and origin of ultra-high energy cosmic rays. One of its main challenges is the monitoring of the atmosphere, both in terms of its state variables and its optical properties. The aim of this work is to analyze aerosol optical depth $\tau_{\rm a}(z)$ values measured from 2004 to 2012 at the observatory, which is located in a remote and relatively unstudied area of the Pampa Amarilla, Argentina. The aerosol optical depth is in average quite low - annual mean $\tau_{\rm a}(3.5~{\rm km})\sim 0.04$ - and shows a seasonal trend with a winter minimum - $\tau_{\rm a}(3.5~{\rm km})\sim 0.03$ -, and a summer maximum - $\tau_{\rm a}(3.5~{\rm km})\sim 0.06$ -, and an unexpected increase from August to September - $\tau_{\rm a}(3.5~{\rm km})\sim 0.055$). We computed backward trajectories for the years 2005 to 2012 to interpret the air mass origin. Winter nights with low aerosol concentrations show air masses originating from the Pacific Ocean. Average concentrations are affected by continental sources (wind-blown dust and urban pollution), while the peak observed in September and October could be linked to biomass burning in the northern part of Argentina or air pollution coming from surrounding urban areas.
- Probing the radio emission from air showers with polarization measurementsPublication . Pierre Auger collaboration (496 authors); Abreu, Pedro; Andringa, Sofia; Assis, Pedro; Brogueira, Pedro; Cazon, Lorenzo; Conceição, Ruben; Diogo, Francisco; Espadanal, Joao; Gonçalves, Patrícia; Oliveira, Micael; Pimenta, Mário; Santo, Catarina E; Santos, Eva; Sarmento, Raul; Tomé, BernardoThe emission of radio waves from air showers has been attributed to the so-called geomagnetic emission process. At frequencies around 50 MHz this process leads to coherent radiation which can be observed with rather simple setups. The direction of the electric field induced by this emission process depends only on the local magnetic field vector and on the incoming direction of the air shower. We report on measurements of the electric field vector where, in addition to this geomagnetic component, another component has been observed which cannot be described by the geomagnetic emission process. The data provide strong evidence that the other electric field component is polarized radially with respect to the shower axis, in agreement with predictions made by Askaryan who described radio emission from particle showers due to a negative charge-excess in the front of the shower. Our results are compared to calculations which include the radiation mechanism induced by this charge-excess process.