Measuring the muon content of inclined air showers using AERA and the water-Cherenkov detector of the Pierre Auger Observatory

We present a novel approach for assessing the muon content of inclined air showers based on a combined analysis of the radio emission and particle footprint. We will use the radiation energy reconstructed by the Auger Engineering Radio Array (AERA) as an energy estimator and estimate the muon number independently with the water-Cherenkov detector array (WCD) of the Pierre Auger Observatory. We focus our analysis on air showers with primary energy above 4 EeV to ensure full efficiency of the WCD with a grid spacing of 1500 m. Over approximately six years of data, we identify a set of 31 high-quality events that are used in the analysis. The estimated muon content in data is compatible with the one for an iron primary as predicted by current-generation hadronic interaction models. This result can be interpreted as a deficit of muons in simulations as a lighter mass composition is expected from 𝑋max measurements. Such a muon deficit was already observed in previous analyses of the Auger Collaboration and is now confirmed for the first time with radio data.

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Publication Details

Published
2024-11-07
DOI
https://doi.org/10.22323/1.470.0033
Primary Topic
Astrophysics and Cosmic Phenomena
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article
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article

Measuring the muon content of inclined air showers using AERA and the water-Cherenkov detector of the Pierre Auger Observatory

Belén Andrada, Zbigniew Szadkowski, Bruno L. Lago, Carla Taricco et al.
Astrophysics and Cosmic Phenomena
article

Measuring the muon content of inclined air showers using AERA and the water-Cherenkov detector of the Pierre Auger Observatory

Belén Andrada, Zbigniew Szadkowski, Bruno L. Lago, Carla Taricco, Giovanni Consolati, S. Petrera, Varada Varma Kizakke Covilakam, T. Pierog, G. Sigl, T. Huege, Carmina Pérez Bertolli, Carlo Salvattore Cruz Sanchez, Frank Schröder, A. Bueno, Gustavo Medina‐Tanco, A. C. Fauth, Enrico Arnone, Enrique Varela, O. Schölten, Olena Tkachenko, Lorenzo Cazon, Pierpaolo Savina, Lukáš Vaclavek, B. R. Dawson, Matteo Conte, A. Haungs, Harm Schoorlemmer, Dalibor Nosek, Margita Majerčáková, G. Parente, Paula Gina Isar, Mohamed Emam, Laura Valore, Janning Meinert, Emanuele De Vito, Dušan Mandát, M. Roth, Adila Abdul Halim, Jiří Blažek, Therese Paulsen, Adriel Bartz Mocellin, Berenika Čermáková, S. J. de Jong, V. Rizi, Armando di Matteo, Jonas Glombitza, Andres Travaini, Alexey Yushkov, Francesco Fenu, K. Daumiller, A. Insolia, Lorenzo Caccianiga, Darko Veberič, María Isabel Micheletti, A. Segreto, L. Nellen, Felicia Barbato, Viviana Scherini, Gabriela Nicora, Thomas Fitoussi, Katarína Simkova, R. Caruso, I. Allekotte, F. Sarazin, V. Verzi, Luis A. Núñez, Fernando Gollan, M. Cristinziani, E. Zas, Clara Keiko Oliveira Watanabe, Roberta Colalillo, Orazio Zapparrata, L. Miramonti, F. Simon, Juan Carlos D’Olivo, F. Salamida, P. Trávnı́ček, Benjamin Flaggs, P. Hamal, A. D. Supanitsky, Joaquin de Jesus, Pedro J. Costa, Maximilian Straub, R. Mussa, Camilla Petrucci, Zoé Torrès, Steffen Hahn, Federico Maria Mariani, Fiona H. Ellwanger, A. Castellina, J. Vícha, Jaime Álvarez-Muñiz, C. Hojvat, Denise Boncioli, L. Chytka, Martin Vacula, Vladimír Novotný, Miguel A. Martins, F. Guarino, Glennys R. Farrar, M. Gómez Berisso, M. Erdmann, Jarosław Stasielak, H. Falcke, Shima Ujjani Shivashankara, A. Letessier‐Selvon, C. E. Covault, Alex Tapia, P. Abreu, Tobias Schulz, C. Aramo, M. Palatka, I. De Mitri, K. S. Caballero‐Mora, Roberto Aloisio, Bjarni Pont, Simone Rossoni, S. Buitink, Petr Tobiška, Juan Ammerman Yebra, Edivaldo Moura Santos, Violet M. Harvey, Achille Nucita, Hermann-Josef Mathes, P. Mantsch, Lawrence Wiencke, Rukije Uzeiroska, Nicolás Martín González, Silvia Mollerach, Toshihiro Fujii, Corinne Bérat, Luis Miguel Domingues Mendes, Zuzana Svozilikova, M. Pech, Maximilian Stadelmaier, P. Assis, F. Montanet, Mohit Saharan, T. Hebbeker, Bradley C. Manning, Alena Bakalová, Peter L. Biermann, Jan Ebr, Anthony Bwembya, J. A. Chinellato, S. Andringa, Felix Riehn, Agustín Cobos Cerutti, David Schmidt, R. Conceição, C. Bonifazi, Eleonora Guido, Shefali Negi, Jon Paul Lundquist, Jan Pękala, Edyvânia Emily Pereira Martins, Fridtjof Feldbusch, Josina Schulte, S. Vorobiov, Ezequiel Rodriguez, Jakub Jurýšek, Gopal Bhatta, Emanuele Avocone, Primo F. Gómez Vitale, H.O. Klages, H. Wilczyński, M. Aglietta, Allan Machado Payeras, Patricia María Hansen, Lorenzo Perrone, A. Gorgi, F. de Palma, V. de Souza, Esteban Roulet, S. Dasso, Italo Epicoco, Madalina Dobre, A. Gherghel‐Lascu, Quentin Luce, Fabio Convenga, B. Tomé, J. 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Garćıa, Marcus Niechciol, Leonel Morejón, J. Brack, Diego Harari, Ralph Engel, Juan Pallotta, Jeffrey A. Johnsen, Paulo Ricardo Araújo Ferreira, Alejandro Almela, Andrej Filipčič, Alberto Etchegoyen, Humberto Ibarguen Salazar, Rita Cassia dos Anjos, Germano Guedes, Juan Manuel González, Analisa Mariazzi, Norbert Kunka, Luca Deval, Peter Mazur, Marvin Gottowik, Stanislav Michal, Johannes Blümer, Jelena Köhler, Danilo Zavrtanik, Isabelle Lhenry-Yvon, Qader Dorosti, Charles Timmermans, Paul Filip, Carlos J. Todero Peixoto, Luan Bonneau Arbeletche, Federico Andrés Sánchez, Rogerio M. de Almeida, Martina Boháčová, R. Sarmento, Pavel Horváth, G. Marsella, Nataliia Borodai, Cristina Galea, Kévin Almeida Cheminant, Martin Schimassek, Jose F. Valdés Galicia, H. Schieler, Sergio J Sciutto, Jorge Rubén Rodriguez Rojo, Markus Risse, Daniele Martello, Adriana Vásquez-Ramírez, Florian Lukas Briechle, Samo Stanič, Marcelo Augusto Leigui de Oliveira, Ioana Codrina Maris, Giorgio Matthiae, Matías J. Roncoroni, Washington Rodrigues de Carvalho, Michael Prouza, Marcos Cerda, Michael Schimp, Piera Luisa Ghia, P. Gabriel Brichetto Orchera, Gaetano Salina, Ruben Squartini, Manuel Platino, Dave Nitz, Maximilian Reininghaus, Brian Fick, Alan Fuster, Petr Janeček, Virginia Binet, Marina Scornavacche, Alexander Menshikov, Maria Rita Coluccia, C. Dobrigkeit, David Wittkowski, Juan Carlos Arteaga Velázquez, Ricardo Sato, Paul Sommers, Cainã Oliveira, Max Büsken, Gualberto Avila, Marta Bianciotto, A. Săftoiu, L. Lopes, Patrick Stassi, Abha Khakurdikar, Sonja Mayotte, Rodrigo Pelayo, Luis A. Anchordoqui, Fabian Gobbi, Jonathan Biteau, Baobiao Yue, Paolo Privitera, Diego Correia dos Santos, Antonio Condorelli, Lorenzo Apollonio, Srijan Sehgal, Miroslav Hrabovský, Joao dos Anjos, Mart Pothast, Mario E. Bertaina, Diego Melo, Vlastimil Jílek, Veronika Vašíčková, Alexandra Fernandes, Ugo GIACCARI, J. Rautenberg, Shayoni Panja, Sara Martinelli, Felix Knapp, Oscar Martínez Bravo, Diego Ravignani, Jaime de Oliveira, Libor Nožka, Jannis Pawlowsky, Juan Manuel Figueira, Federico Campuzano, Frederik Krieger, Sven Querchfeld, Matthias Kleifges, Luciana Andrade Dourado, Petr Schovánek, Tomáš Fodran, Matias Jorge Tueros, G. Cataldi
article en

Abstract

We present a novel approach for assessing the muon content of inclined air showers based on a combined analysis of the radio emission and particle footprint. We will use the radiation energy reconstructed by the Auger Engineering Radio Array (AERA) as an energy estimator and estimate the muon number independently with the water-Cherenkov detector array (WCD) of the Pierre Auger Observatory. We focus our analysis on air showers with primary energy above 4 EeV to ensure full efficiency of the WCD with a grid spacing of 1500 m. Over approximately six years of data, we identify a set of 31 high-quality events that are used in the analysis. The estimated muon content in data is compatible with the one for an iron primary as predicted by current-generation hadronic interaction models. This result can be interpreted as a deficit of muons in simulations as a lighter mass composition is expected from 𝑋max measurements. Such a muon deficit was already observed in previous analyses of the Auger Collaboration and is now confirmed for the first time with radio data.

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