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

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

doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.109.062002

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.

Abreu, P., Aglietta, M., Ahn, E., Albuquerque, I., Allard, D., Allekotte, I., et al. (2012). Measurement of the proton-air cross section at √s=57TeV with the Pierre Auger observatory. PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERS, 109(6), 062002 [10.1103/PhysRevLett.109.062002].