Direct measurement of the muonic content of extensive air showers between $\mathbf { 2\times 10^{17}}$ and $\mathbf {2\times 10^{18}}~$eV at the Pierre Auger Observatory
التفاصيل البيبلوغرافية
العنوان:
Direct measurement of the muonic content of extensive air showers between $\mathbf { 2\times 10^{17}}$ and $\mathbf {2\times 10^{18}}~$eV at the Pierre Auger Observatory
Laboratoire de Physique Subatomique et de Cosmologie (LPSC), Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules du CNRS (IN2P3)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université Grenoble Alpes (UGA)-Institut polytechnique de Grenoble - Grenoble Institute of Technology (Grenoble INP ), Université Grenoble Alpes (UGA), Laboratoire de Physique des 2 Infinis Irène Joliot-Curie (IJCLab), Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules du CNRS (IN2P3)-Université Paris-Saclay-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Laboratoire de Physique Nucléaire et de Hautes Énergies (LPNHE (UMR_7585)), Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules du CNRS (IN2P3)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université de Paris (UP), Pierre Auger
المصدر:
The European physical journal / C, 80 (8), Article: 751 The European physical journal / C C80(8), 751 (2020). doi:10.1140/epjc/s10052-020-8055-y Eur.Phys.J.C Eur.Phys.J.C, 2020, 80 (8), pp.751. ⟨10.1140/epjc/s10052-020-8055-y⟩
The hybrid design of the Pierre Auger Observatory allows for the measurement of the properties of extensive air showers initiated by ultra-high energy cosmic rays with unprecedented precision. By using an array of prototype underground muon detectors, we have performed the first direct measurement, by the Auger Collaboration, of the muon content of air showers between $$2\times 10^{17}$$2×1017 and $$2\times 10^{18}$$2×1018 eV. We have studied the energy evolution of the attenuation-corrected muon density, and compared it to predictions from air shower simulations. The observed densities are found to be larger than those predicted by models. We quantify this discrepancy by combining the measurements from the muon detector with those from the Auger fluorescence detector at $$10^{{17.5}}\, {\mathrm{eV}} $$1017.5eV and $$10^{{18}}\, {\mathrm{eV}} $$1018eV. We find that, for the models to explain the data, an increase in the muon density of $$38\%$$38%$$\pm 4\% (12\%)$$±4%(12%)$$\pm {}^{21\%}_{18\%}$$±18%21% for EPOS-LHC, and of $$50\% (53\%)$$50%(53%)$$\pm 4\% (13\%)$$±4%(13%)$$\pm {}^{23\%}_{20\%}$$±20%23% for QGSJetII-04, is respectively needed.
