A tau scenario application to a search for upward-going showers with the Fluorescence Detector of the Pierre Auger Observatory (original) (raw)
2021, Proceedings of 37th International Cosmic Ray Conference — PoS(ICRC2021)
Recent observations of two coherent radio pulses with the ANITA detector can be interpreted as steeply upward-going cosmic-ray showers with energies of a few tenths of an EeV and remain unexplained. The Pierre Auger Observatory has a large exposure to such upward propagating shower-like events, and has used 14 years of its Fluorescence Detector (FD) data to perform a generic search for such events with elevation angles greater than 20 • from the horizon. Here this search is recast to constrain models generating high energy-leptons. For maximal flexibility, only the propagation, decay, and interactions of-leptons are treated in this analysis, meaning that the results are independent of the-production scenario. This treatment allows for the application of these results to the wide range of models producing-leptons that have been proposed to describe the "anomalous" ANITA events. The goal of this study is accomplished by generating-leptons within the Earth and its atmosphere with an intensity dependent on the media density. The zenith angle, location and calorimetric energy of any resulting-induced air showers are then used to calculate the exposure of the FD of the Pierre Auger Observatory to primaries. Differential limits as low as 10 −9 GeV s −1 cm −2 sr −1 to the flux of-leptons produced with less than a 50 km path length below the Earth's surface are reported for several zenith angle ranges and primary energy spectra. Full exposure and sensitivity information is provided, facilitating the application of these results to different-lepton production models.
Sign up for access to the world's latest research.
checkGet notified about relevant papers
checkSave papers to use in your research
checkJoin the discussion with peers
checkTrack your impact
Related papers
Search for upward-going showers with the Fluorescence Detector of the Pierre Auger Observatory
2021
Given its operation time and wide field of view, the Fluorescence Detector (FD) of the Pierre Auger Observatory is sufficiently sensitive to detect upward-going events when used in monocular mode. Upward-going air showers are a possible interpretation of the recent events reported by the ANITA Collaboration in the energy range above 1017 eV. The Pierre Auger FD data can be used to support or constrain this interpretation. If confirmed, it would require either new phenomena or significant modifications to the standard model of particle physics. To prepare this search, a set of quality selection criteria was defined by using 10% of the available FD data from 14 years of operation. This subset was mainly used to clean the data from improperly labelled laser events that had been used to monitor the quality of the atmosphere. The potential background for this search consists of cosmic-ray induced air showers with specific geometric configurations which, in a monocular reconstruction, can...
The Astrophysical Journal, 2002
Ultra-high-energy (UHE) neutrinos , " , and " e at PeV and higher energies may induce air showers whose detectability is amplified millions to billions of times by their secondaries. We considered UHE-N and UHE " e-e interactions underneath mountains as a source of such horizontal amplified air showers. We also consider vertical upward UHE-N interactions (UPTAUs) on Earth's crust, leading to UHE air showers or interactions at the horizon edges (HORTAUs), and their beaming toward high mountain gamma, X-ray, and Cerenkov detectors, and we show their detectability. We notice that such rare upward air showers, UPTAUs and HORTAUs, may even hit nearby balloons or satellites and flash them with short diluted gamma bursts at the edge of the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory detection threshold. We suggest the possibility of identifying these events with recently discovered (BATSE) terrestrial gamma flashes (TGFs), and we argue for their probable UHE-UHE origin. From these data, approximated UHE fluxes and Dm l lower bounds are derived. Known X-ray, gamma, and TeV active Galactic and extragalactic sources have been identified in most TGF arrival directions. Maximal EGRET activity in the Galactic center overlaps with the maximal TGF flux. The UHE cosmic-ray (UHECR) Akino Giant Air Shower Array anisotropy at 10 18 eV also shows possible correlations with TGF events. The unique UHECR triplet in AGASA clustering, pointing toward BL Lac 1ES 0806+524, finds within its error box a corresponding TGF event, BATSE trigger 2444. Finally, a partial TGF Galactic signature, combined with the above correlations, suggests an astrophysical origin of TGF events.
Loading Preview
Sorry, preview is currently unavailable. You can download the paper by clicking the button above.