A short note on the nested-sweep polarized traces method for the 2D Helmholtz equation

We present a variant of the solver in Zepeda-N\'u\~nez and Demanet (2014), for the 2D high-frequency Helmholtz equation in heterogeneous acoustic media. By changing the domain decomposition from a layered to a grid-like partition, this variant yields improved asymptotic online and offline runtimes and a lower memory footprint. The solver has online parallel complexity that scales \emph{sub linearly} as $\mathcal{O} \left( \frac{N}{P} \right)$, where $N$ is the number of volume unknowns, and $P$ is the number of processors, provided that $P = \mathcal{O}(N^{1/5})$. The variant in Zepeda-N\'u\~nez and Demanet (2014) only afforded $P = \mathcal{O}(N^{1/8})$. Algorithmic scalability is a prime requirement for wave simulation in regimes of interest for geophysical imaging.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figure

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 $80^\circ$ and energies in excess of 4 EeV ($4 \times 10^{18}$ 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 $p$-values obtained after accounting for searches blindly performed at several angular scales, are $1.3 \times 10^{-5}$ in the case of the angular power spectrum, and $2.5 \times 10^{-3}$ 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

Ultrahigh-energy neutrino follow-up of Gravitational Wave events GW150914 and GW151226 with the Pierre Auger Observatory

On September 14, 2015 the Advanced LIGO detectors observed their first gravitational-wave (GW) transient GW150914. This was followed by a second GW event observed on December 26, 2015. Both events were inferred to have arisen from the merger of black holes in binary systems. Such a system may emit neutrinos if there are magnetic fields and disk debris remaining from the formation of the two black holes. With the surface detector array of the Pierre Auger Observatory we can search for neutrinos with energy above 100 PeV from point-like sources across the sky with equatorial declination from about -65 deg. to +60 deg., and in particular from a fraction of the 90% confidence-level (CL) inferred positions in the sky of GW150914 and GW151226. A targeted search for highly-inclined extensive air showers, produced either by interactions of downward-going neutrinos of all flavors in the atmosphere or by the decays of tau leptons originating from tau-neutrino interactions in the Earth's crust (Earth-skimming neutrinos), yielded no candidates in the Auger data collected within $\pm 500$ s around or 1 day after the coordinated universal time (UTC) of GW150914 and GW151226, as well as in the same search periods relative to the UTC time of the GW candidate event LVT151012. From the non-observation we constrain the amount of energy radiated in ultrahigh-energy neutrinos from such remarkable events.Comment: Published version. Added journal reference and DOI. Added Report Numbe

Azimuthal asymmetry in the risetime of the surface detector signals of the Pierre Auger Observatory

The azimuthal asymmetry in the risetime of signals in Auger surface detector stations is a source of information on shower development. The azimuthal asymmetry is due to a combination of the longitudinal evolution of the shower and geometrical effects related to the angles of incidence of the particles into the detectors. The magnitude of the effect depends upon the zenith angle and state of development of the shower and thus provides a novel observable, $(\sec \theta)_\mathrm{max}$, sensitive to the mass composition of cosmic rays above $3 \times 10^{18}$ eV. By comparing measurements with predictions from shower simulations, we find for both of our adopted models of hadronic physics (QGSJETII-04 and EPOS-LHC) an indication that the mean cosmic-ray mass increases slowly with energy, as has been inferred from other studies. However, the mass estimates are dependent on the shower model and on the range of distance from the shower core selected. Thus the method has uncovered further deficiencies in our understanding of shower modelling that must be resolved before the mass composition can be inferred from $(\sec \theta)_\mathrm{max}$.Comment: Replaced with published version. Added journal reference and DO

The Pierre Auger Observatory: Contributions to the 34th International Cosmic Ray Conference (ICRC 2015)

Contributions of the Pierre Auger Collaboration to the 34th International Cosmic Ray Conference, 30 July - 6 August 2015, The Hague, The NetherlandsComment: 24 proceedings, the 34th International Cosmic Ray Conference, 30 July - 6 August 2015, The Hague, The Netherlands; will appear in PoS(ICRC2015

Evidence for a mixed mass composition at the `ankle' in the cosmic-ray spectrum

We report a first measurement for ultra-high energy cosmic rays of the correlation between the depth of shower maximum and the signal in the water Cherenkov stations of air-showers registered simultaneously by the fluorescence and the surface detectors of the Pierre Auger Observatory. Such a correlation measurement is a unique feature of a hybrid air-shower observatory with sensitivity to both the electromagnetic and muonic components. It allows an accurate determination of the spread of primary masses in the cosmic-ray flux. Up till now, constraints on the spread of primary masses have been dominated by systematic uncertainties. The present correlation measurement is not affected by systematics in the measurement of the depth of shower maximum or the signal in the water Cherenkov stations. The analysis relies on general characteristics of air showers and is thus robust also with respect to uncertainties in hadronic event generators. The observed correlation in the energy range around the `ankle' at $\lg(E/{\rm eV})=18.5-19.0$ differs significantly from expectations for pure primary cosmic-ray compositions. A light composition made up of proton and helium only is equally inconsistent with observations. The data are explained well by a mixed composition including nuclei with mass $A > 4$. Scenarios such as the proton dip model, with almost pure compositions, are thus disfavoured as the sole explanation of the ultrahigh-energy cosmic-ray flux at Earth.Comment: Published version. Added journal reference and DOI. Added Report Numbe

The observation of lightning-related events with the Surface Detector of the Pierre Auger Observatory

The Pierre Auger Observatory, designed to detect ultra-high energy cosmic rays, can be a valid instrument at the ground to study phenomena related to the atmospheric electricity. The fluorescence detector is a powerful instrument to observe ELVES thanks to its excellent time resolution, while peculiar events with a large number of triggered stations have been recorded by the surface detector. The characteristic signal of these events lasts more than 10 mu s, about two orders of magnitude more than the duration of a signal produced by a cosmic muon. Moreover, each of these events has at least one station with a signal dominated by a high-frequency noise that could be related with a lightning-induced signal. Stations with a long-lasting signal are arranged in a disk shape. There are "big" events characterized by a radius of about 6 km and few "small" events with a radius of about 2-3 km. The signal, generated by a source very close to the ground, first reaches the innermost stations and then spreads outwards. In the "big" events, a lack of signal in some of the central stations was observed. Further studies and checks are in progress to understand the origin of the lack of signal and what mechanisms occurring during the lightning evolution may provide for electric fields capable of generating and accelerating particles that can produce Cherenkov light in the stations of the surface detector

Observation of inclined EeV air showers with the radio detector of the Pierre Auger Observatory

With the Auger Engineering Radio Array (AERA) of the Pierre AugerObservatory, we have observed the radio emission from 561 extensive air showerswith zenith angles between 60$^\circ$ and 84$^\circ$. In contrast to airshowers with more vertical incidence, these inclined air showers illuminatelarge ground areas of several km$^2$ with radio signals detectable in the 30 to80\,MHz band. A comparison of the measured radio-signal amplitudes with MonteCarlo simulations of a subset of 50 events for which we reconstruct the energyusing the Auger surface detector shows agreement within the uncertainties ofthe current analysis. As expected for forward-beamed radio emission undergoingno significant absorption or scattering in the atmosphere, the area illuminatedby radio signals grows with the zenith angle of the air shower. Inclined airshowers with EeV energies are thus measurable with sparse radio-antenna arrayswith grid sizes of a km or more. This is particularly attractive as radiodetection provides direct access to the energy in the electromagnetic cascadeof an air shower, which in case of inclined air showers is not accessible byarrays of particle detectors on the ground