Heidelberg 2022 – wissenschaftliches Programm
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T: Fachverband Teilchenphysik
T 19: Cosmic Ray 1
T 19.4: Vortrag
Montag, 21. März 2022, 17:05–17:20, T-H32
Combined analysis of the ultrahigh-energy cosmic-ray mass composition and hadronic interaction cross-sections — •Olena Tkachenko for the Pierre Auger collaboration — Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Karlsruhe, Germany
Studies of the cosmic-ray mass composition and hadronic interaction properties can improve our understanding of the origin and nature of the ultrahigh-energy cosmic rays. However, neither the mass composition nor the interaction cross sections are well measured at ultrahigh energies and normally the standard analyses require certain assumptions on either of these quantities to estimate the other one.
In this talk, we present a method for the independent and simultaneous estimation of the cosmic-ray composition fractions and proton-proton interaction cross-sections. We perform a standard mass composition fit using the measured distributions of the shower maximum of air showers (Xmax) while varying at the same time the interaction cross-sections and thus getting the best-fit combination of the estimated quantities without making any underlying assumptions on either of them. For this purpose, we modify the proton-proton interactions and the corresponding nucleus-nucleus cross-sections are then rescaled via the Glauber theory. We test the performance of this method and its sensitivity for the different composition and cross-section scenarios and compare the outcomes to the standard approach. We also study the effects of the Xmax range selection and Xmax scale uncertainty on the fit. Finally, we apply the method to data collected at the Pierre Auger Observatory and discuss the results.