Constraints on the spread of nuclear masses in ultra-high-energy cosmic rays based on the Phase I hybrid data from the Pierre Auger Observatory
We present an analysis of the correlation between the depth of the maximum of air-shower profiles and the signal in water-Cherenkov stations in events registered simultaneously by the fluorescence and surface detectors of the Pierre Auger Observatory. The analysis enables us to place constraints on the spread of nuclear masses in ultra-high-energy cosmic rays with a minor impact from the experimental systematic uncertainties and uncertainties in air-shower simulations. Due to this unique feature, the correlation analysis has previously allowed us to exclude all pure and proton-helium compositions near the ankle in the cosmic-ray energy spectrum at $5\sigma$ confidence level. The same property makes the correlation analysis an effective tool for testing the consistency of predictions of the post-LHC hadronic interaction models, including their latest versions such as EPOS LHC-R, QGSJet-III-01, Sibyll$^{\bigstar}$ and Sibyll 2.3e. In this work, the correlation analysis using the Phase I hybrid data from the Pierre Auger Observatory is presented. The analysis uses the newest generation of hadronic interaction models and covers an extended energy range around the ankle in the cosmic-ray spectrum.
Authors
- Belén Andrada
- Zbigniew Szadkowski (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2690-9912)
- Bruno L. Lago (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9672-0499)
- Carla Taricco (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0129-5539)
- Giovanni Consolati (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3614-245X)
- Juan Manuel Gonzalez (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9193-0921)
- S. Petrera (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6029-1255)
- T. Pierog (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7472-8710)
- G. Sigl (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4396-645X)
- Mateo Fernandez
- T. Huege (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2783-4772)
- Marta Bianciotto (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9599-3214)
- Nicolas Leal
- Carmina Pérez Bertolli (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9790-5732)
- Carlo Salvattore Cruz Sanchez (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0002-6173-0974)
- Frank Schröder (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8495-7210)
- Gustavo Medina‐Tanco (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3202-319X)
- A. C. Fauth (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7239-0288)
- Enrico Arnone (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6740-5051)
- Enrique Varela (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0715-7513)
- O. Schölten (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3649-1254)
- Olena Tkachenko (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6393-7851)
- Lorenzo Cazon (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6748-8395)
- Pierpaolo Savina (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7670-554X)
- B. R. Dawson (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4271-3055)
- Laura Valore
- A. Haungs (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9638-7574)
- Harm Schoorlemmer (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8999-9249)
- Dalibor Nosek (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6219-200X)
- G. Parente (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2847-0461)
- Paula Gina Isar (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1241-584X)
- Janning Meinert (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7582-3456)
- Emanuele De Vito (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2045-7588)
- Adila Abdul Halim (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1218-1737)
- Gonzalo Rodriguez Fernandez (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4683-230X)
- Jiří Blažek (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5870-8947)
- Therese Paulsen
- Adriel Bartz Mocellin
- Berenika Čermáková
- S. J. de Jong (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3120-3367)
- Alexey Yushkov (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5107-9116)
- K. Daumiller (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0527-4823)
- A. Insolia (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9040-1566)
- Darko Veberič (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2683-1526)
- María Isabel Micheletti (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1063-9938)
- A. Segreto (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7341-6603)
- L. Nellen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1059-8731)
- Felicia Barbato (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0751-6731)
- Jan Pękala
- Viviana Scherini (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3762-4063)
- Gabriela Nicora (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7504-6423)
- Thomas Fitoussi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9473-9356)
- Katarína Simkova (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2363-9846)
- R. Caruso (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1622-8731)
- I. Allekotte (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9624-3044)
- F. Sarazin (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5614-1986)
- V. Verzi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2291-9387)
- Luis A. Núñez
- Chaitanya Priyadarshi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9160-9617)
- M. Cristinziani (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3893-9171)
- E. Zas (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4430-8117)
- Clara Keiko Oliveira Watanabe
- Roberta Colalillo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4179-9352)
- M. Hrabovský (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4223-7316)
- L. Miramonti (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2808-5363)
- F. Simon (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5978-0289)
- F. Salamida (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9306-8447)
- P. Trávnı́ček (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1655-9584)
- Benjamin Flaggs (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5549-1869)
- P. Hamal (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3139-7234)
- A. D. Supanitsky (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6942-6216)
- Pedro J. Costa
- Maximilian Straub
- R. Mussa (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0294-9071)
- Camilla Petrucci
- Federico Maria Mariani
- Fiona H. Ellwanger
- A. Castellina (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0045-2467)
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- Jose F. Valdés Galicia
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- M. Erdmann (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1653-1303)
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- Shima Ujjani Shivashankara
- A. Letessier‐Selvon (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2044-3103)
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- Tobias Schulz (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4208-2599)
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- M. Palatka (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2061-6059)
- I. De Mitri (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8665-1730)
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- Simone Rossoni
- S. Buitink (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6177-497X)
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- P. Mantsch (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8382-7745)
- Lawrence Wiencke (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2878-9704)
- Rukije Uzeiroska
- Lorenzo Perrone (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8380-9643)
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- P. Assis (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7765-3606)
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- T. Hebbeker (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9736-266X)
- M. Mallamaci (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4068-0496)
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- Jorge Caraça-Valente
- Agustín Cobos Cerutti
- Krzysztof Pytel (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2937-7886)
- Adriana Vásquez-Ramírez (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7499-9302)
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- C. Bonifazi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3087-3609)
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- Jon Paul Lundquist (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4245-5092)
- Edyvânia Emily Pereira Martins (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1167-8314)
- Fridtjof Feldbusch
- S. Vorobiov (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8679-3424)
- Ezequiel Rodriguez (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2523-1919)
- Alexander Novikov (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1086-7252)
- Varada Varma Kizakke Covilakam
- Emanuele Avocone (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3757-2718)
- Primo F. Gómez Vitale (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9689-2020)
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- Patricia María Hansen
- A. Gorgi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8085-2304)
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- J. Brack (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4096-2063)
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- Juan Carlos D'Olivo
- Markus Risse
- Juan Pallotta
- Alejandro Almela
- Humberto Ibarguen Salazar
- Rita Cassia dos Anjos
- Jörg R. Hörandel
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- Analisa Mariazzi
- Sergio J Sciutto
- Luca Deval
- Peter Mazur
- Marvin Gottowik
- Stanislav Michal
- Johannes Blümer
- Jelena Köhler
- Antonino Del Popolo
- Danilo Zavrtanik (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4596-1521)
- Ralph Engel
- Julian Rautenberg
- Fernando Gollan
- Luis Miguel Domingues Mendes
- Edivaldo Moura Santos
- Lukáš Vaclavek
- Isabelle Lhenry-Yvon
- Carlos Hojvat
- Qader Dorosti (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9711-0609)
- Italo Epicoco
- Alberto Etchegoyen
- Bernardo Tomé
- Felix Riehn
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- Antonio Bueno
- A. Filipčič (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5671-1555)
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- Margita Kubátová
- Melanie Weitz (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0001-9010-9610)
- A. A. Watson
- Rogerio M. de Almeida
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- Martina Boháčová
- R. Sarmento (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5018-5467)
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- P. Gabriel Brichetto Orchera
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- Corbin Covault
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- Alan Fuster
- Vladimír Novotný
- Petr Janeček (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3501-7163)
- Virginia Binet
- Diego Ravignani
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- Marina Scornavacche
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- C. Dobrigkeit
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- Carla Aramo
- Teresa Bister
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- David Schmidt
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- Mario E. Bertaina
- Diego Melo
- Vlastimil Jílek (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5774-7285)
- Matías Rolf Hampel
- Veronika Vašíčková
- Alexandra Fernandes (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9187-4007)
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- Jannis Pawlowsky
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- Federico Campuzano
- Frederik Krieger
- Sven Querchfeld
- Karl-Heinz Kampert
- Jacco Vink
- Matthias Kleifges
- Sofia Andringa
- Alex Tapia
- Luciana Andrade Dourado
- Petr Schovánek (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5344-7645)
- Tomáš Fodran (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0000-9529-0853)
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- G. Cataldi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8066-7718)
- Megha Mogarkar
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- Eric-Teunis de Boone
- Mohamed Ismaiel
- Karolina Syrokvas
- Matteo Tambone
- Pim van Dillen
Publication Details
- Published
- 2025-09-24
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.22323/1.501.0442
- Primary Topic
- Astrophysics and Cosmic Phenomena
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- Strong