Study of mass composition of ultra-high energy cosmic rays using parameters measured by the surface detector of the Pierre Auger Observatory

• Grant number: 16/10747-4
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Post-doctor
• Start date: September 01, 2016
• End date: January 31, 2017
• Field of knowledge: Physical Sciences and Mathematics - Physics - Elementary Particle Physics and Fields
• Principal Investigator: Carola Dobrigkeit Chinellato
• Grantee: Mary Lucia Diaz Castro
• Supervisor: Jose Alfredo Bellido Caceres
• Host Institution: Instituto de Física Gleb Wataghin (IFGW). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: University of Adelaide, Australia
• Associated to the scholarship: 13/18489-6 - Chemical composition studies of the Ultra-High Energy Cosmic Rays with the surface detector of the Pierre Auger Observatory, BP.PD

Abstract

This project is a collaboration of groups from Unicamp, USP, and the University of Adelaide aiming to study the mass composition of Ultra-High Energy Cosmic Rays, one of the greatest challenges in Cosmic Ray Physics nowadays. In this project, parameters determined by the surface detector (SD) of the Pierre Auger Observatory will be analyzed, due to the high number of events detected in this operational mode. Special attention will be given to the intrinsic - shower to shower - fluctuations of some parameters measured with the SD. So far, the fluctuations on the slope of the Lateral Distribution Function have been analyzed. Based on these results, a deeper study of the systematic uncertainties in the SD reconstruction process of the Auger events is required. Therefore, this point is one of the goals to be addressed in this project. On the other hand, a shower-to-shower fluctuation analysis of other SD parameters will be the main part of this project in order to complement the results obtained. Additionally, a simulation chain is also considered an element of the work to be developed to do comparisons of our analyzed parameters to the ones of known composition. (AU)