Search for: All records

Abstract Propagation of ultra-high energy photons in the solar magnetosphere gives rise to cascades comprising thousands of photons. We study the cascade development using Monte Carlo simulations and find that the photons in the cascades are spatially extended over millions of kilometers on the plane distant from the Sun by 1 AU. We estimate the chance of detection considering upper limits from current cosmic rays observatories in order to provide an optimistic estimate rate of 0.002 events per year from a chosen ring-shaped region around the Sun. We compare results from simulations which use two models of the solar magnetic field, and show that although signatures of such cascades are different for the models used, for practical detection purpose in the ground-based detectors, they are similar. 

Abstract The hybrid design of the Pierre Auger Observatory allows for the measurement of the properties of extensive air showers initiated by ultra-high energy cosmic rays with unprecedented precision. By using an array of prototype underground muon detectors, we have performed the first direct measurement, by the Auger Collaboration, of the muon content of air showers between $$2\times 10^{17}$$ 2 × 10 17 and $$2\times 10^{18}$$ 2 × 10 18 eV. We have studied the energy evolution of the attenuation-corrected muon density, and compared it to predictions from air shower simulations. The observed densities are found to be larger than those predicted by models. We quantify this discrepancy by combining the measurements from the muon detector with those from the Auger fluorescence detector at $$10^{{17.5}}\, {\mathrm{eV}} $$ 10 17.5 eV and $$10^{{18}}\, {\mathrm{eV}} $$ 10 18 eV . We find that, for the models to explain the data, an increase in the muon density of $$38\%$$ 38 % $$\pm 4\% (12\%)$$ ± 4 % ( 12 % ) $$\pm {}^{21\%}_{18\%}$$ ± 18 % 21 % for EPOS-LHC , and of $$50\% (53\%)$$ 50 % ( 53 % ) $$\pm 4\% (13\%)$$ ± 4 % ( 13 % ) $$\pm {}^{23\%}_{20\%}$$ ± 20 % 23 % for QGSJetII-04 , is respectively needed.