Depth of maximum of air-shower profiles above 10 17.7 eV measured with the fluorescence detector of the Pierre Auger Observatory

We present measurements of the depth of shower maximum, X$_{max}$, for cosmic-ray-induced extensive air showers recorded by the fluorescence detector of the Pierre Auger Observatory over 17 years. The dataset covers primary energies from 10$^{17.7}$ eV to beyond 10$^{19.6}$eV. With improved event reconstruction and an exposure 2.4 times larger than in our previous analysis, this work confirms and refines our conclusions on the mass composition at ultrahigh energies. The energy evolution of the mean X$_{max}$ exhibits a pronounced break at a cosmic-ray energy of about 10$^{18.4}$ eV, providing direct, model-independent evidence for a change in the evolution of the mass composition. Independently, the observed decrease of the X$_{max}$ fluctuations with energy indicates a transition toward a heavier and less diverse primary mass composition. No statistically significant declination dependence of the X$_{max}$ distributions is observed within the exposure of the Observatory, consistent with an isotropic mass composition at the sensitivity of this analysis. The mean and standard deviation of the X$_{max}$ distributions, interpreted with air-shower simulations, yield the energy dependence of the average and variance of the logarithmic mass of cosmic rays arriving at Earth. Furthermore, energy-dependent fractional abundances of four representative primary-mass groups (p, He, CNO, Fe) are obtained by fitting the observed X$_{max}$ distributions in each energy bin with a weighted sum of elemental templates. These results provide strong evidence against a long-standing assumption that ultrahigh-energy cosmic rays are predominantly protons: above 1018.4 eV, the average cosmic-ray mass increases, accompanied by a steadily decreasing diversity in the elemental composition.