Mass composition working group report

• Published in: EPJ Web of Conferences
• Main Authors: Tsunesada Y., Tameda Y., de Souza V., Knurenko S., Egorov Y., Bellido J., Belz J., Barcikowski E., Unger M.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: EDP Sciences 2013
• Subjects: Physics; QC1-999; Yakutsk
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1051/epjconf/20135301006; https://doaj.org/article/75ffab62a0df42de92a0f3b5a9cdcddb

We present a summary of the measurements of mass sensitive parameters at the highest cosmic ray energies done by several experiments. The Xmax distribution as a function of energy has been measured with fluorescence telescopes by the HiRes, TA and Auger experiments and with Cherenkov light detectors by Yakutsk. The 〈Xmax〉 or the average mass (〈lnA〉) has been also inferred using ground detectors, such as muon and water Cherenkov detectors. We discuss the different data analyses elaborated by each collaboration in order to extract the relevant information. Special attention is given to the different approaches used in the analysis of the data measured by fluorescence detectors in order to take into account detector biases. We present a careful analysis of the stability and performance of each analysis. The results of the different experiments will be compared and the discrepancies or agreements will be quantified.