Physics Dep.

A new instrument was designed and developed to map the spatial distribution of water vapor concentration in the atmosphere. The high spatial resolution, sensitivity, and accuracy of the instrument enable new studies of the role of turbulence on clouds and aerosols in small-scale laboratory environments. The instrument exploits Raman scattering in a multi-pass laser configuration by using a set of narrow bandpass filters and a pair of charge coupled device imaging cameras in the 90° scattering geometry. The absolute concentration of water vapor was inferred from measured ratios of H2O and N2 vibrational Raman transitions. We have measured the number densities of water molecules in the atmosphere as low as 3.5 × 1017 cm−3, with an accuracy better than 20% and as high as 7.0 × 1017 cm−3 during minutes long observations. These measurements were taken within an imaging region 6 cm in diameter, with a per-pixel resolution 2.60 mm wide by 0.16 mm tall and 1 mm deep.

An overview of the multi-messenger capabilities of the Pierre Auger Observatory is presented. The techniques and performance of searching for Ultra-High Energy neutrinos, photons and neutrons are described. Some of the most relevant results are reviewed, such as stringent upper bounds that were placed to a flux of diffuse cosmogenic neutrinos and photons, bounds placed on neutrinos emitted from compact binary mergers that were detected by LIGO and Virgo during their first and second observing runs, as well as searches for high energy photons and neutrons from the Galactic center that constrain the properties of the putative Galactic PeVatron, observed by the H.E.S.S. collaboration. The observation of directional correlations between ultra-high energy cosmic rays and either high energy astrophysical neutrinos or specific source populations, weighted by their electromagnetic radiation, are also discussed. They constitute additional multi-messenger approaches aimed at identifying the sources of high energy cosmic rays.

Neutrinos with energies above 10 17 eV are detectable with the Surface Detector Array of the Pierre Auger Observatory. The identification is efficiently performed for neutrinos of all flavors interacting in the atmosphere at large zenith angles, as well as for Earth-skimming τ neutrinos with nearly tangential trajectories relative to the Earth. No neutrino candidates were found in ∼ 14.7 years of data taken up to 31 August 2018. This leads to restrictive upper bounds on their flux. The 90% C.L. single-flavor limit to the diffuse flux of ultra-high-energy neutrinos with an E -2 ν spectrum in the energy range 1.0 × 10 17 eV -2.5 × 10 19 eV is E 2 dN ν /dE ν < 4.4 × 10 -9 GeV cm -2 s -1 sr -1 , placing strong constraints on several models of neutrino production at EeV energies and on the properties of the sources of ultra-high-energy cosmic rays.

Results of a search for ultra-high-energy neutrinos with the Pierre Auger Observatory from the direction of the blazar TXS 0506+056 are presented. They were obtained as part of the follow-up that stemmed from the detection of high-energy neutrinos and gamma rays with IceCube, Fermi-LAT, MAGIC, and other detectors of electromagnetic radiation in several bands. The Pierre Auger Observatory is sensitive to neutrinos in the energy range from 100 PeV to 100 EeV and in the zenith angle range from θ = 60 • to θ = 95 • , where the zenith angle is measured from the vertical direction. No neutrinos from the direction of TXS 0506+056 have been found. The results were analyzed in three periods: One of 6 months around the detection of IceCube-170922A, coinciding with a flare period of TXS 0506+056, a second one of 110 days during which the IceCube collaboration found an excess of 13 neutrinos from a direction compatible with TXS 0506+056, and a third one from 2004 January 1 up to 2018 August 31, over which the Pierre Auger Observatory has been taking data. The sensitivity of the Observatory is addressed for different spectral indices by considering the fluxes that would induce a single expected event during the observation period. For indices compatible with those measured by the IceCube collaboration the expected number of neutrinos at the Observatory is well-below one. Spectral indices as hard as 1.5 would have to apply in this energy range to expect a single event to have been detected.

Cosmic rays arriving at Earth collide with the upper parts of the atmosphere, thereby inducing extensive air showers. When secondary particles from the cascade arrive at the ground, they are measured by surface detector arrays. We describe the methods applied to the measurements of the surface detector of the Pierre Auger Observatory to reconstruct events with zenith angles less than 60 • using the timing and signal information recorded using the water-Cherenkov detector stations. In addition, we assess the accuracy of these methods in reconstructing the arrival directions of the primary cosmic ray particles and the sizes of the induced showers.

Recent observations of two coherent radio pulses with the ANITA detector can be interpreted as steeply upward-going cosmic-ray showers with energies of a few tenths of an EeV and remain unexplained. The Pierre Auger Observatory has a large exposure to such upward propagating shower-like events, and has used 14 years of its Fluorescence Detector (FD) data to perform a generic search for such events with elevation angles greater than 20 • from the horizon. Here this search is recast to constrain models generating high energy -leptons. For maximal flexibility, only the propagation, decay, and interactions of -leptons are treated in this analysis, meaning that the results are independent of the -production scenario. This treatment allows for the application of these results to the wide range of models producing -leptons that have been proposed to describe the "anomalous" ANITA events. The goal of this study is accomplished by generating -leptons within the Earth and its atmosphere with an intensity dependent on the media density. The zenith angle, location and calorimetric energy of any resulting -induced air showers are then used to calculate the exposure of the FD of the Pierre Auger Observatory to primaries. Differential limits as low as 10 -9 GeV s -1 cm -2 sr -1 to the flux of -leptons produced with less than a 50 km path length below the Earth's surface are reported for several zenith angle ranges and primary energy spectra. Full exposure and sensitivity information is provided, facilitating the application of these results to different -lepton production models.

The combined fit of the energy spectrum and mass composition data above 5 • 10 18 eV suggested the presence of extragalactic sources ejecting ultra-high-energy cosmic rays with relatively low maximum energies, hard spectral indices and mixed chemical compositions, dominated by the contribution of intermediate mass groups. Here we present an extension of the fit to lower energies, to include the feature observed near 5 • 10 18 eV in the all-particle energy spectrum, the so-called ankle. We show that it is possible to generate such a change of slope assuming that the flux below the ankle is provided by the superposition of different contributions. The simplest extension of this sort consists of introducing a supplemental extragalactic component at low energy, characterised by different physical parameters with respect to the one being dominant above the ankle: such a component may originate from a different population of sources or be provided by interactions occurring in the acceleration sites. In this framework we also explore the possibility of including the end of a Galactic contribution at low energies. The fit suggests that these scenarios provide a reasonable description of the measurements across the ankle, without significantly affecting the interpretation obtained for the above-ankle region. In order to evaluate our capability to constrain the source models, we finally discuss the impact of the main experimental systematic uncertainties and of the theoretical models choice on the fit results.

Since 2013, the four sites of the Fluorescence Detector (FD) of the Pierre Auger Observatory record ELVES with a dedicated trigger. These UV light emissions are correlated to distant lightning strikes. The length of recorded traces has been increased from 100 s (2013), to 300 s (2014-16), to 900 s (2017-present), to progressively extend the observation of the light emission towards the vertical of the causative lightning and beyond. A large fraction of the observed events shows double ELVES within the time window, and, in some cases, even more complex structures are observed. The nature of the multi-ELVES is not completely understood but may be related to the different types of lightning in which they are originated. For example, it is known that Narrow Bipolar Events can produce double ELVES, and Energetic In-cloud Pulses, occurring between the main negative and upper positive charge layer of clouds, can induce double and even quadruple ELVES in the ionosphere. This report shows the seasonal and daily dependence of the time gap, amplitude ratio, and correlation between the pulse widths of the peaks in a sample of 1000+ multi-ELVES events recorded during the period 2014-20. The events have been compared with data from other satellite and ground-based sensing devices to study the correlation of their properties with lightning observables such as altitude and polarity.

The Pierre Auger Observatory, located in western Argentina, is the world's largest cosmic-ray observatory. While it was originally built to study the cosmic-ray flux above 10 18.5 eV, several enhancements have reduced this energy threshold. One such enhancement is a surface array composed of a triangular grid of 19 water-Cherenkov detectors separated by 433 m (SD-433) to explore the energies down to about 10 16 eV. We are developing two research lines employing the SD-433. Firstly, we will measure the energy spectrum in a region where previous experiments have shown evidence of the second knee. Secondly, we will search for ultra-high energy photons to study PeV cosmic-ray sources residing in the Galactic center. In this work, we introduce the SD-433 and we show that it is fully efficient above 5×10 16 eV for hadronic primaries with < 45°. Using seven years of data, we present the parametrization of the lateral distribution function of measured signals. Finally, we show that an angular resolution of 1.8°(0.5°) can be attained at the lowest (highest) primary energies. Our study lays the goundmark for measurements in the energy range above 10 16 eV by utilizing the SD-433 and thus expanding the scientific output of the Auger surface detector.

More than half a century after the discovery of ultra-high energy cosmic rays (UHECRs), their origin is still an open question. The study of anisotropies in the arrival directions of such particles is an essential ingredient to solve this puzzle. We update our previous analysis of large-scale anisotropies observed by the Pierre Auger Observatory using the latest data collected before the AugerPrime upgrade. We select events with zenith angles up to 80 degrees, implying a sky coverage of 85%, and energies above 4 EeV, for which the surface detector of the Observatory is fully efficient. Dipolar and quadrupolar amplitudes are evaluated through a combined Fourier analysis of the event count rate in right ascension and azimuth. The analysis is performed in three energy bins with boundaries at 4, 8, 16 and 32 EeV and two additional cumulative bins with energies above 8 and 32 EeV. The most significant signal is a dipolar modulation in right ascension for energies above 8 EeV, as previously reported, with statistical significance of 6.6𝜎. Additionally, we report the measurements of the angular power spectrum for the same energy bins with the same dataset.

The measurement of the mass composition of ultra-high energy cosmic rays constitutes a prime challenge in astroparticle physics. Most detailed information on the composition can be obtained from measurements of the depth of maximum of air showers, max , with the use of fluorescence telescopes, which can be operated only during clear and moonless nights. Using deep neural networks, it is now possible for the first time to perform an event-by-event reconstruction of max with the Surface Detector (SD) of the Pierre Auger Observatory. Therefore, previously recorded data can be analyzed for information on max , and thus, the cosmic-ray composition. Since the SD operates with a duty cycle of almost 100% and its event selection is less strict than for the Fluorescence Detector (FD), the gain in statistics with respect to the FD is almost a factor of 15 for energies above 10 19.5 eV. In this contribution, we introduce the neural network particularly designed for the SD of the Pierre Auger Observatory. We evaluate its performance using three different hadronic interaction models, verify its functionality using Auger hybrid measurements, and find that the method can extract mass information on an event level.

Since 2015, the Pierre Auger Observatory has been undergoing an important upgrade. It consists of the addition of Scintillator Surface Detectors (SSD) on top of the existing Water-Cherenkov Detectors (WCDs), as well as a small Photo-Multiplier Tube (sPMT) inside the WCDs (both excluding the outer crown of the array), an Underground Muon Detectors (UMD) in the limited higher density area, denominated Infill, where the stations are installed at a distance of 750 m instead of the standard 1.5 km (SD750 and later also in the SD433), and a Radio Detector antenna array (RD) at each of the 1660 surface detector stations. To process the signals of all these detector systems and to increase the dynamic range and time resolution, new electronics, Upgraded Unified Boards (UUBs) have been developed and are being produced and deployed at the Observatory. The combination of all of these new features of the Surface Detector (SD) will provide an enhanced capability for answering the still many open questions related to the nature of ultra-high energy cosmic rays. In this work the main characteristics, the production and validation chain, the performances and the status of the implementation of the new Upgraded Unified Boards will be illustrated. The first data collected from the already operational upgraded stations in the array will also be presented.

We present the energy spectrum of cosmic rays measured at the Pierre Auger Observatory from 6 × 10 15 eV up to the most extreme energies where the accumulated exposure reaches about 80 000 km 2 sr yr. The wide energy range is covered with five different data sets: events detected by the surface detector (with separate reconstruction methods for zenith angles below and above 60 • ), those collected by a denser array, a set of hybrid events simultaneously recorded by the surface and fluorescence detectors, and those events in which the signal is dominated by Cherenkov light registered by the high-elevation telescopes. In this contribution, we report updates of the analysis techniques and present the spectrum obtained by combining the five different measurements. Spectral features occurring in the wide energy range covered by the Observatory are discussed.

The Pierre Auger Observatory, sited in Malargüe, Argentina, is the largest observatory available for measuring ultra-high-energy cosmic rays (UHECR). The Auger Collaboration has measured and analysed an unprecedented number of UHECRs. Along with making important scientific discoveries, for example, the demonstration that cosmic rays above 8 EeV are of extragalactic origin and the observation of a new feature in the energy spectrum at around 13 EeV, outreach work has been carried out across the 18 participating countries and online. This program ranges from talks to a varied audience, to the creation of a local Visitor Center, which attracts 8000 visitors annually, to initiating masterclasses. Permanent and temporary exhibitions have been prepared both in reality and virtually. Science fairs for elementary-and high-school students have been organised, together with activities associated with interesting phenomena such as eclipses. In addition, we participate in international events such as the International Cosmic Day, Frontiers from H2020, and the International Day of Women and Girls in Science. Part of the Collaboration website is aimed at the general public. Here the most recent articles published are summarised. Thus the Collaboration informs people about work in our field, which may seem remote from everyday life. Furthermore, the Auger Observatory has been a seed for scientific and technological activities in and around Malargüe. Different outreach ventures that already have been implemented and others which are foreseen will be described.

Work on the Off line Framework for the Pierre Auger Observatory was started in 2003 to create a universal framework for event reconstruction and simulation. The development and installation of the AugerPrime upgrade of the Pierre Auger Observatory require an update of the Off line Framework to handle the additional detector components and the upgraded Surface Detector Electronics. The design of the Off line Framework proved to be sufficiently flexible to accommodate the changes needed to be able to handle the AugerPrime detector. This flexibility has been a goal since the development of the code started. The framework separates data structures from processing modules. The detector components map directly onto data structures. It was straightforward to update or add processing modules to handle the additional information from the new detectors. We will discuss the general structure of the Off line Framework, explaining the design decisions that provided its flexibility and point out the few of the features of the original design that required deeper changes, which could have been avoided in hindsight. Given the disruptive nature of the AugerPrime upgrade, the developers decided that the update for AugerPrime was the moment to change also the language standard for the implementation and move to the latest version of C++, to break strict backward compatibility eliminating deprecated interfaces, and to modernize the development infrastructure. We will discuss the changes that were made to the structure in general and the modules that were added to the framework to handle the new detector components.

Multimessenger astronomy has become increasingly important during the past decade. Some astronomical objects have already been successfully observed in the light of multiple messenger signals, allowing for a much deeper understanding of their physical properties. The Pierre Auger Observatory has taken part in multimessenger astronomy with an exhaustive exploration of the ultra-high-energy sky. In this contribution, for the first time, a search for UHE photons from the sources of gravitational waves is presented. Interactions with the cosmic background radiation fields are expected to attenuate any possible flux of ultra-high-energy photons from distant sources and a non-negligible background of air shower events with hadronic origin makes an unambiguous identification of primary photons a challenging task. In the analysis presented here, a selection strategy is applied to both GW sources and air shower events aiming to provide maximum sensitivity to a possible photon signal. At the same time, a window is kept open for hypothetical new-physics processes, which might allow for much larger interaction lengths of photons in the extragalactic medium. Preliminary results on the UHE photon fluence from a selection of GW sources, including the binary neutron star merger GW170817 are presented.