# ICRC 2021

Jul 12 – 23, 2021
Online
Europe/Berlin timezone

## The depth of the shower maximum of air showers measured with AERA

Jul 13, 2021, 6:00 PM
1h 30m
03

#### 03

Talk CRI | Cosmic Ray Indirect

Bjarni Pont

### Description

The Auger Engineering Radio Array (AERA) is currently the largest array of radio antennas for the detection of cosmic rays, spanning an area of $17$ km$^2$ with 153 radio antennas, measuring in the energy range around the transition from galactic to extra-galactic origin. It measures the radio emission of extensive air showers produced by cosmic rays, in the $30-80$ MHz band. The cosmic-ray mass composition is a crucial piece of information in determining the sources of cosmic rays and their acceleration mechanisms. The composition can be determined with a likelihood analysis that compares the measured radio-emission footprint on the ground to an ensemble of footprints from CORSIKA/CoREAS Monte-Carlo air shower simulations. These simulations are also used to determine the resolution of the method and to validate the reconstruction by identifying and correcting for systematics. We will present the method for the reconstruction of the depth of the shower maximum, compare our results to the independent fluorescence detector reconstruction measured on an event-by-event basis, and show the results of the cosmic-ray mass composition reconstruction with AERA in the energy range from $10^{17.5}$ to $10^{19}$ eV for data taken over the past seven years.

### Keywords

Radio; AERA; Pierre Auger; Xmax; mass composition; cosmic rays; depth of shower; composition;

Collaboration Auger Experimental Results