The Lateral Trigger Probability function for the Ultra-High Energy
Cosmic Ray Showers detected by the Pierre Auger Observatory
Astroparticle Physics 35 (2011) 266-276
Authors:
TPA Collaboration, P Abreu, M Aglietta, EJ Ahn, IFM Albuquerque, D Allard, I Allekotte, J Allen, P Allison, JA Castillo, J Alvarez-Muñiz, M Ambrosio, A Aminaei, L Anchordoqui, S Andringa, T Antičić, A Anzalone, C Aramo, E Arganda, F Arqueros, H Asorey, P Assis, J Aublin, M Ave, M Avenier, G Avila, T Bäcker, M Balzer, KB Barber, AF Barbosa, R Bardenet, SLC Barroso, B Baughman, J Bäuml, JJ Beatty, BR Becker, KH Becker, A Bellétoile, JA Bellido, S BenZvi, C Berat, X Bertou, PL Biermann, P Billoir, F Blanco, M Blanco, C Bleve, H Blümer, M Boháčová, D Boncioli, C Bonifazi, R Bonino, N Borodai, J Brack, P Brogueira, WC Brown, R Bruijn, P Buchholz, A Bueno, RE Burton, KS Caballero-Mora, L Caramete, R Caruso, A Castellina, O Catalano, G Cataldi, L Cazon, R Cester, J Chauvin, SH Cheng, A Chiavassa, JA Chinellato, A Chou, J Chudoba, RW Clay, MR Coluccia, R Conceição, F Contreras, H Cook, MJ Cooper, J Coppens, A Cordier, S Coutu, CE Covault, A Creusot, A Criss, J Cronin, A Curutiu, S Dagoret-Campagne, R Dallier, S Dasso, K Daumiller, BR Dawson, RMD Almeida, MD Domenico, CD Donato, SJD Jong, GDL Vega, WJMDM Junior, JRTDM Neto, ID Mitri, VD Souza, KDD Vries, G Decerprit, LD Peral, MD Río, O Deligny, H Dembinski, N Dhital, CD Giulio, JC Diaz, MLD Castro, PN Diep, C Dobrigkeit, W Docters, JC D'Olivo, PN Dong, A Dorofeev, JCD Anjos, MT Dova, D D'Urso, I Dutan, J Ebr, R Engel, M Erdmann, CO Escobar, J Espadanal, A Etchegoyen, PFS Luis, IF Tapia, H Falcke, G Farrar, AC Fauth, N Fazzini, AP Ferguson, A Ferrero, B Fick, A Filevich, A Filipčič, S Fliescher, CE Fracchiolla, ED Fraenkel, U Fröhlich, B Fuchs, R Gaior, RF Gamarra, S Gambetta, B García, DG Gámez, D Garcia-Pinto, A Gascon, H Gemmeke, K Gesterling, PL Ghia, U Giaccari, M Giller, H Glass, MS Gold, G Golup, FG Albarracin, MG Berisso, P Gonçalves, D Gonzalez, JG Gonzalez, B Gookin, D Góra, A Gorgi, P Gouffon, SR Gozzini, E Grashorn, S Grebe, N Griffith, M Grigat, AF Grillo, Y Guardincerri, F Guarino, GP Guedes, A Guzman, JD Hague, P Hansen, D Harari, S Harmsma, JL Harton, A Haungs, T Hebbeker, D Heck, AE Herve, C Hojvat, N Hollon, VC Holmes, P Homola, JR Hörandel, A Horneffer, M Hrabovský, T Huege, A Insolia, F Ionita, A Italiano, C Jarne, S Jiraskova, M Josebachuili, K Kadija, KH Kampert, P Karhan, P Kasper, B Kégl, B Keilhauer, A Keivani, JL Kelley, E Kemp, RM Kieckhafer, HO Klages, M Kleifges, J Kleinfeller, J Knapp, D-H Koang, K Kotera, N Krohm, O Krömer, D Kruppke-Hansen, F Kuehn, D Kuempel, JK Kulbartz, N Kunka, GL Rosa, C Lachaud, P Lautridou, MSAB Leão, D Lebrun, P Lebrun, MALD Oliveira, A Lemiere, A Letessier-Selvon, I Lhenry-Yvon, K Link, R López, AL Agüera, K Louedec, JL Bahilo, L Lu, A Lucero, M Ludwig, H Lyberis, MC Maccarone, C Macolino, S Maldera, D Mandat, P Mantsch, AG Mariazzi, J Marin, V Marin, IC Maris, HRM Falcon, G Marsella, D Martello, L Martin, H Martinez, OM Bravo, HJ Mathes, J Matthews, JAJ Matthews, G Matthiae, D Maurizio, PO Mazur, G Medina-Tanco, M Melissas, D Melo, E Menichetti, A Menshikov, P Mertsch, C Meurer, S Mićanović, MI Micheletti, W Miller, L Miramonti, L Molina-Bueno, S Mollerach, M Monasor, DM Ragaigne, F Montanet, B Morales, C Morello, E Moreno, JC Moreno, C Morris, M Mostafá, CA Moura, S Mueller, MA Muller, G Müller, M Münchmeyer, R Mussa, G Navarra, JL Navarro, S Navas, P Necesal, L Nellen, A Nelles, J Neuser, PT Nhung, L Niemietz, N Nierstenhoefer, D Nitz, D Nosek, L Nožka, M Nyklicek, J Oehlschläger, A Olinto, P Oliva, VM Olmos-Gilbaja, M Ortiz, N Pacheco, DP Selmi-Dei, M Palatka, J Pallotta, N Palmieri, G Parente, E Parizot, A Parra, RD Parsons, S Pastor, T Paul, M Pech, J Pękala, R Pelayo, IM Pepe, L Perrone, R Pesce, E Petermann, S Petrera, P Petrinca, A Petrolini, Y Petrov, J Petrovic, C Pfendner, N Phan, R Piegaia, T Pierog, P Pieroni, M Pimenta, V Pirronello, M Platino, VH Ponce, M Pontz, P Privitera, M Prouza, EJ Quel, S Querchfeld, J Rautenberg, O Ravel, D Ravignani, B Revenu, J Ridky, S Riggi, M Risse, P Ristori, H Rivera, V Rizi, J Roberts, C Robledo, WRD Carvalho, G Rodriguez, JR Martino, JR Rojo, I Rodriguez-Cabo, MD Rodríguez-Frías, G Ros, J Rosado, T Rossler, M Roth, B Rouillé-d'Orfeuil, E Roulet, AC Rovero, C Rühle, F Salamida, H Salazar, G Salina, F Sánchez, CE Santo, E Santos, EM Santos, F Sarazin, B Sarkar, S Sarkar, R Sato, N Scharf, V Scherini, H Schieler, P Schiffer, A Schmidt, F Schmidt, O Scholten, H Schoorlemmer, J Schovancova, P Schovánek, F Schröder, S Schulte, D Schuster, SJ Sciutto, M Scuderi, A Segreto, M Settimo, A Shadkam, RC Shellard, I Sidelnik, G Sigl, HHS Lopez, A Śmiałkowski, R Šmída, GR Snow, P Sommers, J Sorokin, H Spinka, R Squartini, S Stanic, J Stapleton, J Stasielak, M Stephan, E Strazzeri, A Stutz, F Suarez, T Suomijärvi, AD Supanitsky, T Šuša, MS Sutherland, J Swain, Z Szadkowski, M Szuba, A Tamashiro, A Tapia, M Tartare, O Taşcău, CGT Ruiz, R Tcaciuc, D Tegolo, NT Thao, D Thomas, J Tiffenberg, C Timmermans, DK Tiwari, W Tkaczyk, CJT Peixoto, B Tomé, A Tonachini, P Travnicek, DB Tridapalli, G Tristram, E Trovato, M Tueros, R Ulrich, M Unger, M Urban, JFV Galicia, I Valiño, L Valore, AMVD Berg, E Varela, BV Cárdenas, JR Vázquez, RA Vázquez, D Veberič, V Verzi, J Vicha, M Videla, L Villaseñor, H Wahlberg, P Wahrlich, O Wainberg, D Warner, AA Watson, M Weber, K Weidenhaupt, A Weindl, S Westerhoff, BJ Whelan, G Wieczorek, L Wiencke, B Wilczyńska, H Wilczyński, M Will, C Williams, T Winchen, MG Winnick, M Wommer, B Wundheiler, T Yamamoto, T Yapici, P Younk, G Yuan, A Yushkov, B Zamorano, E Zas, D Zavrtanik, M Zavrtanik, I Zaw, A Zepeda, MZ Silva, M Ziolkowski
Abstract:
In this paper we introduce the concept of Lateral Trigger Probability (LTP)
function, i.e., the probability for an extensive air shower (EAS) to trigger an
individual detector of a ground based array as a function of distance to the
shower axis, taking into account energy, mass and direction of the primary
cosmic ray. We apply this concept to the surface array of the Pierre Auger
Observatory consisting of a 1.5 km spaced grid of about 1600 water Cherenkov stations. Using Monte Carlo simulations of ultra-high energy showers the LTP functions are derived for energies in the range between 10^{17} and 10^{19} eV and zenith angles up to 65 degs. A parametrization combining a step function with an exponential is found to reproduce them very well in the considered range of energies and zenith angles. The LTP functions can also be obtained from data using events simultaneously observed by the fluorescence and the surface detector of the Pierre Auger Observatory (hybrid events). We validate the Monte-Carlo results showing how LTP functions from data are in good agreement with simulations.
