• Energy Research

Context.In recent years, evidence for an anisotropic distribution of ultra-high-energy cosmic rays (UHECRs) has been claimed, notably a dipole modulation in right ascension has been reported by the Auger collaboration above the 5σsignificance threshold.Aims.We investigate the implications of the current data regarding large-scale anisotropies, including higher order multipoles, and we examine to what extent they can be used to shed some light on the origin of UHECRs and constrain the astrophysical and/or physical parameters of the source scenarios. We investigate the possibility of observing an associated anisotropy of the UHECR composition and discuss the potential benefit of a good determination of the composition and of the separation of the different nuclear components. We also discuss the interest and relevance of observing the UHECR sky with larger exposure future observatories.Methods.We simulated realistic UHECR sky maps for a wide range of astrophysical scenarios satisfying the current observational constraints, taking into account the energy losses and the photo-dissociation of the UHE protons and nuclei, as well as their deflexions by intervening magnetic fields. We investigated scenarios in which the UHECR source distribution follows that of the galaxies in the Universe (with possible biases), varying the UHECR source composition and spectrum, as well as the source density and the magnetic field models. For each of them, we simulated 300 realizations of independent datasets corresponding to various assumptions for the statistics and sky coverage, and we applied similar analyses as those used by the Auger collaboration for the search of large-scale anisotropies.Results.We find the following. First, reproducing the amplitude of the first-order (dipole) anisotropy observed in the Auger data, as well as its evolution as a function of energy, is relatively easy within our general assumptions. Second, this general agreement can be obtained with different sets of assumptions on the astrophysical and physical parameters, and thus it cannot be used, at the present stage, to derive strong constraints on the UHECR source scenarios or draw model-independent constraints on the various parameters individually. Third, the actual direction of the dipole modulation reconstructed from the Auger data, in the energy bin where the signal is most significant, appears highly unnatural in essentially all scenarios investigated, and this calls for their main assumptions to be reconsidered, either regarding the source distribution itself or the assumed magnetic field configuration, especially in the Galaxy. Fourth, the energy evolution of the reconstructed dipole direction contains potentially important information, which may become constraining for specific source models when larger statistics is collected. Fifth, for such high-statistics datasets, most of our investigated scenarios predict a significant quadrupolar modulation, especially if the light component of UHECRs can be extracted from the all-particle dataset. Sixth, except for protons, the energy range in which the GZK horizon strongly reduces is a key target for anisotropy searches for each given nuclear species. Seventh, although a difference in the average composition of the UHECRs in regions having a different count rate is naturally expected in our models, it is unlikely that the composition anisotropy recently reported by Auger can be explained by this effect, unless the reported amplitude is a strong positive statistical fluctuation of an intrinsically weaker signal.

L'Observatoire Pierre Auger, actuellement en cours de construction en Argentine, étudie les rayons cosmiques dont l'énergie est supérieure à quelques EeV. L'expérience combine deux méthodes de détection des gerbes atmosphériques complémentaires: la mesure de la lumière de fluorescence et l'échantillonnage du profil latéral grâce à un réseau de détecteurs répartis au sol sur une surface d'environ 3000 kilomètres carrés. Les méthodes nécessaires au calcul de l'acceptance, dont la connaissance est cruciale pour établir le spectre d'énergie, ont été développées au cours du travail de thèse, et ont permis de déterminer de manière simple et robuste la surface effective de détection du réseau de surface de l'Observatoire Pierre Auger. L'efficacité de détection dépendant de la nature des rayons cosmiques, il est possible de caractériser leur composition grâce aux données du réseau de surface. Le calcul du spectre d'énergie des rayons cosmiques a été mené, en utilisant plusieurs méthodes pour estimer l'énergie des événements détectés. L'utilisation combinée des détecteurs de fluorescence avec le réseau de surface permet d'établir un étalonnage en énergie pratiquement indépendant des modèles d'interactions hadroniques. L'étude des anisotropies des directions d'arrivées des rayons cosmiques permet d'obtenir des informations précieuses sur leur origine et leur transport depuis leurs sources. Une nouvelle méthode d'analyse simple et efficace a été développée pour estimer les paramètres d'une anisotropie (dipôle et quadripôle) sous-jacente dans les données. Cette méthode est appliquée aux premières données de l'Observatoire Pierre Auger. The Pierre Auger Observatory, still under construction in Argentina, is designed to study the cosmic rays with energies above a few EeV. The experiment combines two complementary techniques: the fluorescence light detection and the sampling of the shower with an array of detectors at ground, covering a surface of 3000 square kilometers. The calculation of the acceptance of the detector, which is of utmost importance to establish the energy spectrum, has been achieved. The method of computation of the acceptance is simple and reliable. The detection efficiency depends on the nature of primary cosmic rays, allowing to study the cosmic rays composition with the surface detector. The calculation of the cosmic rays energy spectrum has been performed, using different methods to estimate the energy of the events. A cross calibration between the fluorescence and the surface detector provides an estimation of the energy almost independent of hadronic interaction models. The study of large scale anisotropies in the cosmic rays angular distribution provides useful informations about the cosmic rays sources and the conditions of propagation. A new analysis method is presented, allowing to estimate the parameters of an underlying dipolar and quadripolar anisotropy in the data. The method is applied to a preliminary Auger data set.

This paper summarizes some highlights from the Pierre Auger Observatory that were presented at the ICRC 2011 in Beijing. The cumulative exposure has grown by more than 60% since the previous ICRC to above 21000 km^2 sr yr. Besides giving important updates on the energy spectrum, mass composition, arrival directions, and photon- and neutrino upper limits, we present first measurements of the energy spectrum down to 3 x 10^{17} eV, first distributions of the shower maximum, X_max, together with new surface detector related observables sensitive to X_max, and we present first measurements of the p-air cross section at ~ 10^{18} eV. Serendipity observations such as of atmospheric phenomena showing time evolutions of elves extend the breadth of the astrophysics research program. Proceedings of Highlight talk presented at ICRC 2011, Beijing. 10 pages, 13 figures

AbstractThe measurement of the flux of muons produced in cosmic ray air showers is essential for the study of primary cosmic rays. Such measurements are important in extensive air shower detectors to assess the energy spectrum and the chemical composition of the cosmic ray flux, complementary to the information provided by fluorescence detectors. Detailed simulations of the cosmic ray air showers are carried out, using codes such as CORSIKA, to estimate the muon flux at sea level. These simulations are based on the choice of hadronic interaction models, for which improvements have been implemented in the post-LHC era. In this work, a deficit in simulations that use state-of-the-art QCD models with respect to the measurement deep underwater with the KM3NeT neutrino detectors is reported. The KM3NeT/ARCA and KM3NeT/ORCA neutrino telescopes are sensitive to TeV muons originating mostly from primary cosmic rays with energies around 10 TeV. The predictions of state-of-the-art QCD models show that the deficit with respect to the data is constant in zenith angle; no dependency on the water overburden is observed. The observed deficit at a depth of several kilometres is compatible with the deficit seen in the comparison of the simulations and measurements at sea level.