31 research outputs found
Calibration of the Logarithmic-Periodic Dipole Antenna (LPDA) Radio Stations at the Pierre Auger Observatory using an Octocopter
An in-situ calibration of a logarithmic periodic dipole antenna with a
frequency coverage of 30 MHz to 80 MHz is performed. Such antennas are part of
a radio station system used for detection of cosmic ray induced air showers at
the Engineering Radio Array of the Pierre Auger Observatory, the so-called
Auger Engineering Radio Array (AERA). The directional and frequency
characteristics of the broadband antenna are investigated using a remotely
piloted aircraft (RPA) carrying a small transmitting antenna. The antenna
sensitivity is described by the vector effective length relating the measured
voltage with the electric-field components perpendicular to the incoming signal
direction. The horizontal and meridional components are determined with an
overall uncertainty of 7.4^{+0.9}_{-0.3} % and 10.3^{+2.8}_{-1.7} %
respectively. The measurement is used to correct a simulated response of the
frequency and directional response of the antenna. In addition, the influence
of the ground conductivity and permittivity on the antenna response is
simulated. Both have a negligible influence given the ground conditions
measured at the detector site. The overall uncertainties of the vector
effective length components result in an uncertainty of 8.8^{+2.1}_{-1.3} % in
the square root of the energy fluence for incoming signal directions with
zenith angles smaller than 60{\deg}.Comment: Published version. Updated online abstract only. Manuscript is
unchanged with respect to v2. 39 pages, 15 figures, 2 table
Multi-resolution anisotropy studies of ultrahigh-energy cosmic rays detected at the Pierre Auger Observatory
We report a multi-resolution search for anisotropies in the arrival
directions of cosmic rays detected at the Pierre Auger Observatory with local
zenith angles up to and energies in excess of 4 EeV ( eV). This search is conducted by measuring the angular power spectrum
and performing a needlet wavelet analysis in two independent energy ranges.
Both analyses are complementary since the angular power spectrum achieves a
better performance in identifying large-scale patterns while the needlet
wavelet analysis, considering the parameters used in this work, presents a
higher efficiency in detecting smaller-scale anisotropies, potentially
providing directional information on any observed anisotropies. No deviation
from isotropy is observed on any angular scale in the energy range between 4
and 8 EeV. Above 8 EeV, an indication for a dipole moment is captured; while no
other deviation from isotropy is observed for moments beyond the dipole one.
The corresponding -values obtained after accounting for searches blindly
performed at several angular scales, are in the case of
the angular power spectrum, and in the case of the needlet
analysis. While these results are consistent with previous reports making use
of the same data set, they provide extensions of the previous works through the
thorough scans of the angular scales.Comment: Published version. Added journal reference and DOI. Added Report
Numbe
Erratum: Search for photons with energies above 10 eV using the hybrid detector of the Pierre Auger Observatory
A search for ultra-high energy photons with energies above 1 EeV is performed
using nine years of data collected by the Pierre Auger Observatory in hybrid
operation mode. An unprecedented separation power between photon and hadron
primaries is achieved by combining measurements of the longitudinal air-shower
development with the particle content at ground measured by the fluorescence
and surface detectors, respectively. Only three photon candidates at energies 1
- 2 EeV are found, which is compatible with the expected hadron-induced
background. Upper limits on the integral flux of ultra-high energy photons of
0.038, 0.010, 0.009, 0.008 and 0.007 km sr yr are derived
at 95% C.L. for energy thresholds of 1, 2, 3, 5 and 10 EeV. These limits bound
the fractions of photons in the all-particle integral flux below 0.14%, 0.17%,
0.42%, 0.86% and 2.9%. For the first time the photon fraction at EeV energies
is constrained at the sub-percent level. The improved limits are below the flux
of diffuse photons predicted by some astrophysical scenarios for cosmogenic
photon production. The new results rule-out the early top-down models in
which ultra-high energy cosmic rays are produced by, e.g., the decay of
super-massive particles and challenge the most recent super-heavy dark
matter models.Comment: Corrected version after erratum published in JCA
A Targeted Search for Point Sources of EeV Photons with the Pierre Auger Observatory
Simultaneous measurements of air showers with the fluorescence and surface detectors of the Pierre Auger Observatory allow a sensitive search for EeV photon point sources. Several Galactic and extragalactic candidate objects are grouped in classes to reduce the statistical penalty of many trials from that of a blind search and are analyzed for a significant excess above the background expectation. The presented search does not find any evidence for photon emission at candidate sources, and combined p-values for every class are reported. Particle and energy flux upper limits are given for selected candidate sources. These limits significantly constrain predictions of EeV proton emission models from non-transient Galactic and nearby extragalactic sources, as illustrated for the particular case of the Galactic center region.</p
Combined fit of spectrum and composition data as measured by the Pierre Auger Observatory
We present a combined fit of a simple astrophysical model of UHECR sources toboth the energy spectrum and mass composition data measured by the Pierre AugerObservatory. The fit has been performed for energies above eV, i.e.~the region of the all-particle spectrum above the so-called "ankle"feature. The astrophysical model we adopted consists of identical sourcesuniformly distributed in a comoving volume, where nuclei are acceleratedthrough a rigidity-dependent mechanism. The fit results suggest sourcescharacterized by relatively low maximum injection energies, hard spectra andheavy chemical composition. We also show that uncertainties about physicalquantities relevant to UHECR propagation and shower development have anon-negligible impact on the fit results
Using a fuzzy inference system to delimit rural and urban municipalities in the Czech republic in 2010
Combined fit of spectrum and composition data as measured by the Pierre Auger Observatory
We present a combined fit of a simple astrophysical model of UHECR sources to both the energy spectrum and mass composition data measured by the Pierre Auger Observatory. The fit has been performed for energies above eV, i.e. the region of the all-particle spectrum above the so-called 'ankle' feature. The astrophysical model we adopted consists of identical sources uniformly distributed in a comoving volume, where nuclei are accelerated through a rigidity-dependent mechanism. The fit results suggest sources characterized by relatively low maximum injection energies, hard spectra and heavy chemical composition. We also show that uncertainties about physical quantities relevant to UHECR propagation and shower development have a non-negligible impact on the fit results
Observation of a large-scale anisotropy in the arrival directions of cosmic rays above 8 × 1018 eV
Cosmic rays are atomic nuclei arriving from outer space that reach the highest energies observed in nature. Clues to their origin come from studying the distribution of their arrival directions. Using 3 × 104 cosmic rays with energies above 8 × 1018 electron volts, recorded with the Pierre Auger Observatory from a total exposure of 76,800 km2 sr year, we determined the existence of anisotropy in arrival directions. The anisotropy, detected at more than a 5.2σ level of significance, can be described by a dipole with an amplitude of Embedded Image percent toward right ascension αd = 100 ± 10 degrees and declination δd = Embedded Image degrees. That direction indicates an extragalactic origin for these ultrahigh-energy particles.0The Pierre Auger CollaborationSCOPUS: ar.jinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishe