Along with primary protons and nuclei most of the scenarios of the origin of cosmic rays predict fluxes of photons and neutrinos at the highest energies. Thanks to the huge collection area and the hybrid design, combining ground array and fluorescence detection techniques, the Pierre Auger Observatory is a unique tool to search for primary photons and neutrinos in ultra-high energy cosmic rays. Implications of these searches extend from astrophysics to fundamental and particle physics. Current results and future perspectives are reported.
B.03 Paper at an international scientific conference
COBISS.SI-ID: 1904891Recent results from the Pierre Auger Observatory are presented, focusing on a measurement of the cosmic-ray energy spectrum above 10^18 eV, cosmic-ray composition, and the anisotropy in the cosmic ray arrival directions. The flux suppression at highest energies is consistent with the predictions of the GZK cut-off. Longitudinal development of cosmic-ray air showers provides information on the mass of the primary particle. When compared to model predictions, our measurements of the mean and spread of the longitudinal position of the shower maximum are indicating a composition transition from light to heavier with increasing energy. For highest energies in our data-set we observe evidence for a correlation between the cosmic-ray arrival directions and the nearby extragalactic objects.
B.04 Guest lecture
COBISS.SI-ID: 2020603Program members heading the organizing committee of the international conference "Time and Matter 2010" and serving as editors for its proceedings.
C.01 Editorial board of a foreign/international collection of papers/book
COBISS.SI-ID: 256448768