The effect of the geomagnetic field on cosmic ray energy estimates and large scale anisotropy searches on data from the Pierre Auger Observatory
ArXiv 1111.7122 (2011)
Authors:
P Abreu, M Aglietta, EJ Ahn, IFM Albuquerque, D Allard, I Allekotte, J Allen, P Allison, J Alvarez 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, RM de Almeida, M De Domenico, C De Donato, SJ de Jong, G De La Vega, WJM de Mello Junior, JRT de Mello Neto, I De Mitri, V de Souza, KD de Vries, G Decerprit, L del Peral, M del Río, O Deligny, H Dembinski, N Dhital, C Di Giulio, JC Diaz, ML Díaz Castro, PN Diep, C Dobrigkeit, W Docters, JC D'Olivo, PN Dong, A Dorofeev, JC dos Anjos, MT Dova, D D'Urso, I Dutan, J Ebr, R Engel, M Erdmann, CO Escobar, J Espadanal, A Etchegoyen, P Facal San Luis, I Fajardo 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, D García Gámez, D Garcia-Pinto, A Gascon, H Gemmeke, K Gesterling, PL Ghia, U Giaccari, M Giller, H Glass, MS Gold, G Golup, F Gomez Albarracin, M Gómez 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, G La Rosa, C Lachaud, P Lautridou, MSAB Leão, D Lebrun, P Lebrun, MA Leigui de Oliveira, A Lemiere, A Letessier-Selvon, I Lhenry-Yvon, K Link, R López, A Lopez Agüera, K Louedec, J Lozano 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, HR Marquez Falcon, G Marsella, D Martello, L Martin, H Martinez, O Martínez 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, D Monnier 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, D Pakk Selmi-Dei, M Palatka, J Pallotta, N Palmieri, G Parente, E Parizot, A Parra, RD Parsons, S Pastor, T Paul, M Pech, J Pȩkala, 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, W Rodrigues de Carvalho, G Rodriguez, J Rodriguez Martino, J Rodriguez 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, HH Silva 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, CG Tavera Ruiz, R Tcaciuc, D Tegolo, NT Thao, D Thomas, J Tiffenberg, C Timmermans, DK Tiwari, W Tkaczyk, CJ Todero Peixoto, B Tomé, A Tonachini, P Travnicek, DB Tridapalli, G Tristram, E Trovato, M Tueros, R Ulrich, M Unger, M Urban, JF Valdés Galicia, I Valiño, L Valore, AM van den Berg, E Varela, B Vargas Cárdenas, JR Vázquez, RA Vázquez, D Veberič, V Verzi, J Vicha, M Videla, L Villaseñor, H Wahlberg, P Wahrlich, O Wainberg, D Walz, 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, M Zimbres Silva, M Ziolkowski
Abstract:
We present a comprehensive study of the influence of the geomagnetic field on the energy estimation of extensive air showers with a zenith angle smaller than $60^\circ$, detected at the Pierre Auger Observatory. The geomagnetic field induces an azimuthal modulation of the estimated energy of cosmic rays up to the ~2% level at large zenith angles. We present a method to account for this modulation of the reconstructed energy. We analyse the effect of the modulation on large scale anisotropy searches in the arrival direction distributions of cosmic rays. At a given energy, the geomagnetic effect is shown to induce a pseudo-dipolar pattern at the percent level in the declination distribution that needs to be accounted for.
