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T: Fachverband Teilchenphysik
T 81: Kosmische Strahlung I
T 81.4: Talk
Monday, March 3, 2008, 17:30–17:45, KGI-HS 1199
Study of the cosmic ray composition above 0.4 EeV using the longitudinal profiles of showers observed at the Pierre Auger Observatory — •Michael Unger, Ralph Engel, Fabian Schüssler, and Ralf Ulrich for the Pierre Auger collaboration — Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe
We present a study of the cosmic ray composition using data from the Pierre Auger Observatory. We use events recorded in hybrid mode, i.e. air showers observed by the fluorescence detector as well as the surface detector, for which the depth of shower maximum (Xmax) is measured directly. The cosmic ray composition is studied in different energy ranges by comparing the observed average shower maximum with predictions from air shower simulations for different nuclei. The change of Xmax with energy (elongation rate) is used to derive estimates of the change in primary composition.