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

2012/12/17 by Jan Ebr, Ebr, Jan
Physics and Astronomy · #Astrophysics and Cosmic Phenomena #Dark Matter and Cosmic Phenomena #FOS: Physical sciences #High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena (astro-ph.HE) #High Energy Physics - Experiment (hep-ex) #Particle physics theoretical and experimental studies

paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.1212.4053

openalex publication_date 2012/12/17 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/01

Abstract

Using measured events from the fluorescence detector of the Pierre Auger Observatory, an unbiased distribution of the atmospheric slant depths where showers reach their maxima has been obtained. Analyzing the tail of this distribution the proton-air cross-section for particle production at center-of-mass energies per nucleon of 57 TeV is determined to be [505±22(stat)+28-36(syst)] mb. Systematic uncertainties in the analysis arise from the limited knowledge of the primary mass composition, the need to use shower simulations and the selection of events. For the purpose of making comparisons with accelerator data we also calculate the inelastic and total proton-proton cross-sections using an extended Glauber model.

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