Measurement of the proton-air cross section at √s=57 TeV with the Pierre Auger Observatory

P Abreu; M Aglietta; E J Ahn; I F M Albuquerque; D Allard; I Allekotte; J Allen; P Allison; A Almeda; J Alvarez Castillo; J Alvarez-Muñiz; M Ambrosio; A Aminaei; L Anchordoqui; S Andringa; T Antičić; C Aramo; E Arganda; F Arqueros; H Asorey; P Assis; J Aublin; M Ave; M Avenier; G Avila; T Bäcker; M Balzer; K B Barber; A F Barbosa; R Bardenet; S L C Barroso; B Baughman; J Bäuml; J J Beatty; B R Becker; K H Becker; A Bellétoile; J A Bellido; S Benzvi; C Berat; X Bertou; P L Biermann; P Billoir; F Blanco; M Blanco; C Bleve; H Blümer; M Boháčová; D Boncioli; C Bonifazi; R Bonino; N Borodai; J Brack; P Brogueira; W C Brown; R Bruijn; P Buchholz; A Bueno; R E Burton; K S Caballero-Mora; L Caramete; R Caruso; A Castellina; O Catalano; G Cataldi; L Cazon; R Cester; J Chauvin; S H Cheng; A Chiavassa; J A Chinellato; J Chirinos Diaz; J Chudoba; R W Clay; M R Coluccia; R Conceição; F Contreras; H Cook; M J Cooper; J Coppens; A Cordier; S Coutu; C E Covault; A Creusot; A Criss; J Cronin; A Curutiu; S Dagoret-Campagne; R Dallier; S Dasso; K Daumiller; B R Dawson; R M de Almeida; M De Domenico; C De Donato; S J de Jong; G De La Vega; W J M de Mello Junior; J R T de Mello Neto; I De Mitri; V de Souza; K D de Vries; G Decerprit; L del Peral; M del Río; O Deligny; H Dembinski; N Dhital; C Di Giulio; M L Díaz Castro; P N Diep; C Dobrigkeit; W Docters; J C D'Olivo; P N Dong; A Dorofeev; J C dos Anjos; M T Dova; D D'Urso; I Dutan; J Ebr; R Engel; M Erdmann; C O Escobar; J Espadanal; A Etchegoyen; P Facal San Luis; I Fajardo Tapia; H Falcke; G Farrar; A C Fauth; N Fazzini; A P Ferguson; A Ferrero; B Fick; A Filevich; A Filipčič; S Fliescher; C E Fracchiolla; E D Fraenkel; U Fröhlich; B Fuchs; R Gaior; R F Gamarra; S Gambetta; B García; D Garcia-Gamez; D Garcia-Pinto; A Gascon; H Gemmeke; K Gesterling; P L Ghia; U Giaccari; M Giller; H Glass; M S Gold; G Golup; F Gomez Albarracin; M Gómez Berisso; P Gonçalves; D Gonzalez; J G Gonzalez; B Gookin; D Góra; A Gorgi; P Gouffon; S R Gozzini; E Grashorn; S Grebe; N Griffith; M Grigat; A F Grillo; Y Guardincerri; F Guarino; G P Guedes; A Guzman; J D Hague; P Hansen; D Harari; S Harmsma; T A Harrison; J L Harton; A Haungs; T Hebbeker; D Heck; A E Herve; C Hojvat; N Hollon; V C Holmes; P Homola; J R Hörandel; A Horneffer; P Horvath; M Hrabovský; T Huege; A Insolia; F Ionita; A Italiano; C Jarne; S Jiraskova; M Josebachuili; K Kadija; K H Kampert; P Karhan; P Kasper; B Kégl; B Keilhauer; A Keivani; J L Kelley; E Kemp; R M Kieckhafer; H O Klages; M Kleifges; J Kleinfeller; J Knapp; D-H Koang; K Kotera; N Krohm; O Krömer; D Kruppke-Hansen; F Kuehn; D Kuempel; J K Kulbartz; N Kunka; G La Rosa; C Lachaud; R Lauer; P Lautridou; S Le Coz; M S A B Leão; D Lebrun; P Lebrun; M A Leigui de Oliveira; A Lemiere; A Letessier-Selvon; I Lhenry-Yvon; K Link; R López; A Lopez Agüera; K Louedec; J Lozano Bahilo; L Lu; A Lucero; M Ludwig; H Lyberis; C Macolino; S Maldera; D Mandat; P Mantsch; A G Mariazzi; J Marin; V Marin; I C Maris; H R Marquez Falcon; G Marsella; D Martello; L Martin; H Martinez; O Martínez Bravo; H J Mathes; J Matthews; J A J Matthews; G Matthiae; D Maurizio; P O Mazur; G Medina-Tanco; M Melissas; D Melo; E Menichetti; A Menshikov; P Mertsch; C Meurer; S Mićanović; M I Micheletti; W Miller; L Miramonti; L Molina-Bueno; S Mollerach; M Monasor; D Monnier Ragaigne; F Montanet; B Morales; C Morello; E Moreno; J C Moreno; C Morris; M Mostafá; C A Moura; S Mueller; M A Muller; G Müller; M Münchmeyer; R Mussa; G Navarra; J L Navarro; S Navas; P Necesal; L Nellen; A Nelles; J Neuser; P T Nhung; L Niemietz; N Nierstenhoefer; D Nitz; D Nosek; L Nožka; M Nyklicek; J Oehlschläger; A Olinto; V M Olmos-Gilbaja; M Ortiz; N Pacheco; D Pakk Selmi-Dei; M Palatka; J Pallotta; N Palmieri; G Parente; E Parizot; A Parra; R D Parsons; S Pastor; T Paul; M Pech; J Pekala; R Pelayo; I M Pepe; L Perrone; R Pesce; E Petermann; S Petrera; P Petrinca; A Petrolini; Y Petrov; J Petrovic; C Pfendner; N Phan; R Piegaia; T Pierog; P Pieroni; M Pimenta; V Pirronello; M Platino; V H Ponce; M Pontz; P Privitera; M Prouza; E J Quel; S Querchfeld; J Rautenberg; O Ravel; D Ravignani; B Revenu; J Ridky; S Riggi; M Risse; P Ristori; H Rivera; V Rizi; J Roberts; C Robledo; W Rodrigues de Carvalho; G Rodriguez; J Rodriguez Martino; J Rodriguez Rojo; I Rodriguez-Cabo; M D Rodríguez-Frías; G Ros; J Rosado; T Rossler; M Roth; B Rouillé-d'Orfeuil; E Roulet; A C Rovero; C Rühle; F Salamida; H Salazar; F Salesa Greus; G Salina; F Sánchez; C E Santo; E Santos; E M Santos; F Sarazin; B Sarkar; S Sarkar; R Sato; N Scharf; V Scherini; H Schieler; P Schiffer; A Schmidt; O Scholten; H Schoorlemmer; J Schovancova; P Schovánek; F Schröder; S Schulte; D Schuster; S J Sciutto; M Scuderi; A Segreto; M Settimo; A Shadkam; R C Shellard; I Sidelnik; G Sigl; H H Silva Lopez; A Smiałkowski; R Smída; G R Snow; P Sommers; J Sorokin; H Spinka; R Squartini; S Stanic; J Stapleton; J Stasielak; M Stephan; A Stutz; F Suarez; T Suomijärvi; A D Supanitsky; T Suša; M S Sutherland; J Swain; Z Szadkowski; M Szuba; A Tamashiro; A Tapia; M Tartare; O Taşcău; C G Tavera Ruiz; R Tcaciuc; D Tegolo; N T Thao; D Thomas; J Tiffenberg; C Timmermans; D K Tiwari; W Tkaczyk; C J Todero Peixoto; B Tomé; A Tonachini; P Travnicek; D B Tridapalli; G Tristram; E Trovato; M Tueros; R Ulrich; M Unger; M Urban; J F Valdés Galicia; I Valiño; L Valore; A M van den Berg; E Varela; B Vargas Cárdenas; J R Vázquez; R A Vázquez; D Veberič; V Verzi; J Vicha; M Videla; L Villaseñor; H Wahlberg; P Wahrlich; O Wainberg; D Walz; D Warner; A A Watson; M Weber; K Weidenhaupt; A Weindl; S Westerhoff; B J Whelan; G Wieczorek; L Wiencke; B Wilczyńska; H Wilczyński; M Will; C Williams; T Winchen; M G Winnick; M Wommer; B Wundheiler; T Yamamoto; T Yapici; P Younk; G Yuan; A Yushkov; B Zamorano; E Zas; D Zavrtanik; M Zavrtanik; I Zaw; A Zepeda; Y Zhu; M Zimbres Silva; M Ziolkowski; Pierre Auger Collaboration

doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.109.062002

Measurement of the proton-air cross section at √s=57 TeV with the Pierre Auger Observatory

Phys Rev Lett. 2012 Aug 10;109(6):062002. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.109.062002. Epub 2012 Aug 10.

Authors

P Abreu¹, M Aglietta, E J Ahn, I F M Albuquerque, D Allard, I Allekotte, J Allen, P Allison, A Almeda, J Alvarez Castillo, J Alvarez-Muñiz, M Ambrosio, A Aminaei, L Anchordoqui, S Andringa, T Antičić, C Aramo, E Arganda, F Arqueros, H Asorey, P Assis, J Aublin, M Ave, M Avenier, G Avila, T Bäcker, M Balzer, K B Barber, A F Barbosa, R Bardenet, S L C Barroso, B Baughman, J Bäuml, J J Beatty, B R Becker, K H Becker, A Bellétoile, J A Bellido, S Benzvi, C Berat, X Bertou, P L Biermann, P Billoir, F Blanco, M Blanco, C Bleve, H Blümer, M Boháčová, D Boncioli, C Bonifazi, R Bonino, N Borodai, J Brack, P Brogueira, W C Brown, R Bruijn, P Buchholz, A Bueno, R E Burton, K S Caballero-Mora, L Caramete, R Caruso, A Castellina, O Catalano, G Cataldi, L Cazon, R Cester, J Chauvin, S H Cheng, A Chiavassa, J A Chinellato, J Chirinos Diaz, J Chudoba, R W Clay, M R Coluccia, R Conceição, F Contreras, H Cook, M J Cooper, J Coppens, A Cordier, S Coutu, C E Covault, A Creusot, A Criss, J Cronin, A Curutiu, S Dagoret-Campagne, R Dallier, S Dasso, K Daumiller, B R Dawson, R M de Almeida, M De Domenico, C De Donato, S J de Jong, G De La Vega, W J M de Mello Junior, J R T de Mello Neto, I De Mitri, V de Souza, K D de Vries, G Decerprit, L del Peral, M del Río, O Deligny, H Dembinski, N Dhital, C Di Giulio, M L Díaz Castro, P N Diep, C Dobrigkeit, W Docters, J C D'Olivo, P N Dong, A Dorofeev, J C dos Anjos, M T Dova, D D'Urso, I Dutan, J Ebr, R Engel, M Erdmann, C O Escobar, J Espadanal, A Etchegoyen, P Facal San Luis, I Fajardo Tapia, H Falcke, G Farrar, A C Fauth, N Fazzini, A P Ferguson, A Ferrero, B Fick, A Filevich, A Filipčič, S Fliescher, C E Fracchiolla, E D Fraenkel, U Fröhlich, B Fuchs, R Gaior, R F Gamarra, S Gambetta, B García, D Garcia-Gamez, D Garcia-Pinto, A Gascon, H Gemmeke, K Gesterling, P L Ghia, U Giaccari, M Giller, H Glass, M S Gold, G Golup, F Gomez Albarracin, M Gómez Berisso, P Gonçalves, D Gonzalez, J G Gonzalez, B Gookin, D Góra, A Gorgi, P Gouffon, S R Gozzini, E Grashorn, S Grebe, N Griffith, M Grigat, A F Grillo, Y Guardincerri, F Guarino, G P Guedes, A Guzman, J D Hague, P Hansen, D Harari, S Harmsma, T A Harrison, J L Harton, A Haungs, T Hebbeker, D Heck, A E Herve, C Hojvat, N Hollon, V C Holmes, P Homola, J R Hörandel, A Horneffer, P Horvath, M Hrabovský, T Huege, A Insolia, F Ionita, A Italiano, C Jarne, S Jiraskova, M Josebachuili, K Kadija, K H Kampert, P Karhan, P Kasper, B Kégl, B Keilhauer, A Keivani, J L Kelley, E Kemp, R M Kieckhafer, H O Klages, M Kleifges, J Kleinfeller, J Knapp, D-H Koang, K Kotera, N Krohm, O Krömer, D Kruppke-Hansen, F Kuehn, D Kuempel, J K Kulbartz, N Kunka, G La Rosa, C Lachaud, R Lauer, P Lautridou, S Le Coz, M S A B Leão, D Lebrun, P Lebrun, M A Leigui de Oliveira, A Lemiere, A Letessier-Selvon, I Lhenry-Yvon, K Link, R López, A Lopez Agüera, K Louedec, J Lozano Bahilo, L Lu, A Lucero, M Ludwig, H Lyberis, C Macolino, S Maldera, D Mandat, P Mantsch, A G Mariazzi, J Marin, V Marin, I C Maris, H R Marquez Falcon, G Marsella, D Martello, L Martin, H Martinez, O Martínez Bravo, H J Mathes, J Matthews, J A J Matthews, G Matthiae, D Maurizio, P O Mazur, G Medina-Tanco, M Melissas, D Melo, E Menichetti, A Menshikov, P Mertsch, C Meurer, S Mićanović, M I Micheletti, W Miller, L Miramonti, L Molina-Bueno, S Mollerach, M Monasor, D Monnier Ragaigne, F Montanet, B Morales, C Morello, E Moreno, J C Moreno, C Morris, M Mostafá, C A Moura, S Mueller, M A Muller, G Müller, M Münchmeyer, R Mussa, G Navarra, J L Navarro, S Navas, P Necesal, L Nellen, A Nelles, J Neuser, P T Nhung, L Niemietz, N Nierstenhoefer, D Nitz, D Nosek, L Nožka, M Nyklicek, J Oehlschläger, A Olinto, V M Olmos-Gilbaja, M Ortiz, N Pacheco, D Pakk Selmi-Dei, M Palatka, J Pallotta, N Palmieri, G Parente, E Parizot, A Parra, R D Parsons, S Pastor, T Paul, M Pech, J Pekala, R Pelayo, I M Pepe, L Perrone, R Pesce, E Petermann, S Petrera, P Petrinca, A Petrolini, Y Petrov, J Petrovic, C Pfendner, N Phan, R Piegaia, T Pierog, P Pieroni, M Pimenta, V Pirronello, M Platino, V H Ponce, M Pontz, P Privitera, M Prouza, E J Quel, S Querchfeld, J Rautenberg, O Ravel, D Ravignani, B Revenu, J Ridky, S Riggi, M Risse, P Ristori, H Rivera, V Rizi, J Roberts, C Robledo, W Rodrigues de Carvalho, G Rodriguez, J Rodriguez Martino, J Rodriguez Rojo, I Rodriguez-Cabo, M D Rodríguez-Frías, G Ros, J Rosado, T Rossler, M Roth, B Rouillé-d'Orfeuil, E Roulet, A C Rovero, C Rühle, F Salamida, H Salazar, F Salesa Greus, G Salina, F Sánchez, C E Santo, E Santos, E M Santos, F Sarazin, B Sarkar, S Sarkar, R Sato, N Scharf, V Scherini, H Schieler, P Schiffer, A Schmidt, O Scholten, H Schoorlemmer, J Schovancova, P Schovánek, F Schröder, S Schulte, D Schuster, S J Sciutto, M Scuderi, A Segreto, M Settimo, A Shadkam, R C Shellard, I Sidelnik, G Sigl, H H Silva Lopez, A Smiałkowski, R Smída, G R Snow, P Sommers, J Sorokin, H Spinka, R Squartini, S Stanic, J Stapleton, J Stasielak, M Stephan, A Stutz, F Suarez, T Suomijärvi, A D Supanitsky, T Suša, M S Sutherland, J Swain, Z Szadkowski, M Szuba, A Tamashiro, A Tapia, M Tartare, O Taşcău, C G Tavera Ruiz, R Tcaciuc, D Tegolo, N T Thao, D Thomas, J Tiffenberg, C Timmermans, D K Tiwari, W Tkaczyk, C J Todero Peixoto, B Tomé, A Tonachini, P Travnicek, D B Tridapalli, G Tristram, E Trovato, M Tueros, R Ulrich, M Unger, M Urban, J F Valdés Galicia, I Valiño, L Valore, A M van den Berg, E Varela, B Vargas Cárdenas, J R Vázquez, R A Vázquez, D Veberič, V Verzi, J Vicha, M Videla, L Villaseñor, H Wahlberg, P Wahrlich, O Wainberg, D Walz, D Warner, A A Watson, M Weber, K Weidenhaupt, A Weindl, S Westerhoff, B J Whelan, G Wieczorek, L Wiencke, B Wilczyńska, H Wilczyński, M Will, C Williams, T Winchen, M G Winnick, M Wommer, B Wundheiler, T Yamamoto, T Yapici, P Younk, G Yuan, A Yushkov, B Zamorano, E Zas, D Zavrtanik, M Zavrtanik, I Zaw, A Zepeda, Y Zhu, M Zimbres Silva, M Ziolkowski; Pierre Auger Collaboration

Affiliation

¹ LIP and Instituto Superior Técnico, Technical University of Lisbon, Lisbon, Portugal.

PMID: 23006259
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.109.062002

Abstract

We report a measurement of the proton-air cross section for particle production at the center-of-mass energy per nucleon of 57 TeV. This is derived from the distribution of the depths of shower maxima observed with the Pierre Auger Observatory: systematic uncertainties are studied in detail. Analyzing the tail of the distribution of the shower maxima, a proton-air cross section of [505±22(stat)(-36)(+28)(syst)] mb is found.