5 research outputs found
Properties and performance of the prototype instrument for the Pierre Auger Observatory
Copyright © 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.Construction of the first stage of the Pierre Auger Observatory has begun. The aim of the Observatory is to collect unprecedented information about cosmic rays above 1018 eV. The first phase of the project, the construction and operation of a prototype system, known as the engineering array, has now been completed. It has allowed all of the sub-systems that will be used in the full instrument to be tested under field conditions. In this paper, the properties and performance of these sub-systems are described and their success illustrated with descriptions of some of the events recorded thus far.Auger Collaboration, ..., J. A. Bellido, ..., R. W. Clay, ..., B. R. Dawson, ..., G. J. Thornton, ..., N. R. Wild, et al.http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/505701/description#descriptio
Correlation of the Highest-energy Cosmic Rays with the Positions of Nearby Active Galactic Nuclei.
Data collected by the Pierre Auger Observatory provide evidence for
anisotropy in the arrival directions of the cosmic rays with the highest
energies, which are correlated with the positions of relatively nearby active
galactic nuclei (AGN) \cite{science}. The correlation has maximum significance
for cosmic rays with energy greater than ~ 6x10^{19}$ eV and AGN at a distance
less than ~ 75 Mpc. We have confirmed the anisotropy at a confidence level of
more than 99% through a test with parameters specified {\em a priori}, using an
independent data set. The observed correlation is compatible with the
hypothesis that cosmic rays with the highest energies originate from
extra-galactic sources close enough so that their flux is not significantly
attenuated by interaction with the cosmic background radiation (the
Greisen-Zatsepin-Kuz'min effect). The angular scale of the correlation observed
is a few degrees, which suggests a predominantly light composition unless the
magnetic fields are very weak outside the thin disk of our galaxy. Our present
data do not identify AGN as the sources of cosmic rays unambiguously, and other
candidate sources which are distributed as nearby AGN are not ruled out. We
discuss the prospect of unequivocal identification of individual sources of the
highest-energy cosmic rays within a few years of continued operation of the
Pierre Auger Observatory.Comment: 33 pages, 8 figures, submitted to Astropart. phys. Now match the
published versio
AUGER FD: Detector response to simulated showers and real event topologies
The performance of the Auger Fluorescence telescope is discussed on the basis of a mass production chain.
In order to get a realistic estimate of the detector resolution, a large number of fully simulated CORSIKA
showers have been used for this study. The propagation through the atmosphere and the detector response are taken into account and simulated in detail. Results for the the case of monocular reconstruction are presented here. No quality cuts for the event reconstruction have been applied so far. Finally, a schematic overview of the expected event topologies is given together with the display of a real event recently collected
Upper limit on the cosmic-ray photon fraction at EeV energies from the Pierre Auger Observatory
From direct observations of the longitudinal development of ultra-high energy air showers performed with the Pierre Auger Observatory, upper limits of 3.8%, 2.4%, 3.5% and 11.7% (at 95% c.l.) are obtained on the fraction of cosmic-ray photons above 2, 3, 5 and 10 EeV, respectively. These are the first experimental limits on ultra-high energy photons at energies below 10 EeV. The results complement previous constraints on top–down models from array data and they reduce systematic uncertainties in the interpretation of shower data in terms of primary flux, nuclear composition and proton-air cross-section
Correlation of the highest energy cosmic rays with nearby extragalactic objects
Using data collected at the Pierre Auger Observatory during the past 3.7 years, we demonstrated a correlation between the arrival directions of cosmic rays with energy above 6 Ă— 10^19 electron volts and the positions of active galactic nuclei (AGN) lying within ~75 megaparsecs. We rejected the hypothesis of an isotropic distribution of these cosmic rays with at least a 99% confidence level from a prescribed a priori test. The correlation we observed is compatible with the hypothesis that the highest-energy particles originate from nearby extragalactic sources whose flux has not been substantially reduced by interaction with the cosmic background radiation. AGN or objects having a similar
spatial distribution are possible sources