Searching for Beyond the Standard Model Physics at the Pierre Auger Cosmic Ray Observatory
Open Access
- Author:
- Buchanan, Mason
- Area of Honors:
- Physics
- Degree:
- Bachelor of Science
- Document Type:
- Thesis
- Thesis Supervisors:
- Miguel Alejandro Mostafa, Thesis Supervisor
Richard Wallace Robinett, Thesis Honors Advisor - Keywords:
- particle physics
astroparticle physics
particle astrophysics
physics
Pierre Auger Observatory - Abstract:
- Over the course of three flights, the Antarctic Impulsive Transient Antenna (ANITA) appeared to detect two cosmic ray events from the Earth below, referred to as “Sub-EeV Earth-emergent Cosmic Rays” (SEECRs). This paper turns to the largest cosmic ray detector in the world, the Pierre Auger Observatory, to search for SEECR candidates, set limits on their incidence, and compare the results to the ANITA detections. 10% of the detections made by the Pierre Auger fluorescence detectors (FDs) made from 2007 to 2018 were considered. To isolate SEECR candidates, five cuts were made to the Auger data: the first used computer vision techniques to remove background produced by the Auger laser facilities, the second defined a minimum number of triggered pixels in the FD camera, the third defined a minimum shower zenith angle, the fourth defined a minimum track length on the FD camera, and the fifth defined a minimum probability of the fit of the shower reconstruction. 7 (+8, -4) detections remain after these cuts. Simulations of upgoing events and past exposure comparisons predict 49 SEECR events in the examined data for consistency with ANITA, over 5𝜎 above the observed value. Similar results in the full Pierre Auger data set would widen this discrepancy further.