Upgrade of the Pierre Auger Observatory (AugerPrime)
Abstract
The data collected with the Pierre Auger Observatory have led
to a number of surprising discoveries. While a strong
suppression of the particle flux at the highest energies has
been established unambiguously, the dominant physics processes
related to this suppression could not be identified.
Within the energy range covered by fluorescence detector
observations with sufficient statistics, an unexpected change
of the depth of maximum distribution is found. Using LHC-tuned
interaction models these observations can be understood as a
correlated change of the fluxes of different mass groups.
On the other hand, they could also indicate a change of
hadronic interactions above the energy of the ankle.
Complementing the water Cherenkov detectors of the surface
array with scintillator detectors will, mainly through the
determination of the muonic shower component, extend the
composition sensitivity of the Auger Observatory into the flux
suppression region. The upgrade of the Auger Observatory will
allow us to estimate the primary mass of the highest energy
cosmic rays on a shower-by-shower basis. In addition to
measuring the mass composition the upgrade will open the
possibility to search for light primaries at the highest
energies, to perform composition-selected anisotropy studies,
and to search for new phenomena including unexpected changes
of hadronic interactions. After introducing the physics
motivation for upgrading the Auger Observatory the planned
detector upgrade is presented. In the second part
of the contribution the expected performance and improved
physics sensitivity of the upgraded Auger Observatory are
discussed.
Keywords
ultra-high energy cosmic rays;elemental composition sensitivity;Auger upgrade;AugerPrime;muonic shower component;scintillator detectors;Pierre Auger Observatory;
Data
| Language: | English |
|---|---|
| Year of publishing: | 2015 |
| Typology: | 1.08 - Published Scientific Conference Contribution |
| Organization: | UNG - University of Nova Gorica |
| UDC: | 539.1 |
| COBISS: |
4154107
|
| ISSN: | 1824-8039 |
| Views: | 3651 |
| Downloads: | 218 |
| Average score: | 0 (0 votes) |
| Metadata: |
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Other data
| URN: | URN:SI:UNG |
|---|---|
| Type (COBISS): | Not categorized |
| Pages: | 8 str. |
| Chronology: | 2015 |
| ID: | 9128179 |
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