Particle theory

Abstract:

The surface detector array of the Pierre Auger Observatory consists of 1600 water-Cherenkov detectors, for the study of extensive air showers (EAS) generated by ultra-high-energy cosmic rays. We describe the trigger hierarchy, from the identification of candidate showers at the level of a single detector, amongst a large background (mainly random single cosmic ray muons), up to the selection of real events and the rejection of random coincidences. Such trigger makes the surface detector array fully efficient for the detection of EAS with energy above 3 × 10¹⁸ eV, for all zenith angles between 0^{{ring operator}} and 60^{{ring operator}}, independently of the position of the impact point and of the mass of the primary particle. In these range of energies and angles, the exposure of the surface array can be determined purely on the basis of the geometrical acceptance. © 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Abstract:

The air fluorescence detector of the Pierre Auger Observatory is designed to perform calorimetric measurements of extensive air showers created by cosmic rays of above 10¹⁸ eV. To correct these measurements for the effects introduced by atmospheric fluctuations, the Observatory contains a group of monitoring instruments to record atmospheric conditions across the detector site, an area exceeding 3000 km². The atmospheric data are used extensively in the reconstruction of air showers, and are particularly important for the correct determination of shower energies and the depths of shower maxima. This paper contains a summary of the molecular and aerosol conditions measured at the Pierre Auger Observatory since the start of regular operations in 2004, and includes a discussion of the impact of these measurements on air shower reconstructions. Between 10¹⁸ and 10²⁰ eV, the systematic uncertainties due to all atmospheric effects increase from 4% to 8% in measurements of shower energy, and 4 g cm^{- 2} to 8 g cm^{- 2} in measurements of the shower maximum. © 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Abstract:

Measurements of the Type Ia supernovae Hubble diagram which suggest that the Universe is accelerating due to the effect of dark energy may be biased because we are located in a 200-300 Mpc underdense 'void' which is expanding 20-30 per cent faster than the average rate. With the smaller global Hubble parameter, the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe 5 data on cosmic microwave background (CMB) anisotropies can be fitted without requiring dark energy if there is some excess power in the spectrum of primordial perturbations on 100 Mpc scales. The Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) data on galaxy clustering can also be fitted if there is a small component of hot dark matter in the form of 0.5 eV mass neutrinos. We show however that if the primordial fluctuations are Gaussian, the expected variance of the Hubble parameter and the matter density are far too small to allow such a large local void. Nevertheless, many such large voids have been identified in the SDSS Luminous Red Galaxy survey in a search for the late integrated Sachs-Wolfe effect due to dark energy. The observed CMB temperature decrements imply that they are nearly empty, thus these real voids too are in gross conflict with the concordance Λ cold dark matter model. The recently observed high peculiar velocity flow presents another challenge for the model. Therefore, whether a large local void actually exists must be tested through observations and cannot be dismissed a priori. © 2009 RAS.