Measurement of the proton-air cross section at √s=57 TeV with the Pierre Auger Observatory.
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. Analyzi...
Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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Format: | Journal article |
Language: | English |
Published: |
2012
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Summary: | 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. |
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