We present a search for ultrarelativistic magnetic monopoles with the Pierre Auger observatory. Such particles, possibly a relic of phase transitions in the early Universe, would deposit a large amount of energy along their path through the atmosphere, comparable to that of ultrahigh-energy cosmic rays (UHECRs). The air-shower profile of a magnetic monopole can be effectively distinguished by the fluorescence detector from that of standard UHECRs. No candidate was found in the data collected between 2004 and 2012, with an expected background of less than 0.1 event from UHECRs. The corresponding 90% confidence level (C.L.) upper limits on the flux of ultrarelativistic magnetic monopoles range from 10-19(cm2 sr s)-1 for a Lorentz factor γ=109 to 2.5×10-21(cm2 sr s)-1 for γ=1012. These results - the first obtained with a UHECR detector - improve previously published limits by up to an order of magnitude.
Search for ultrarelativistic magnetic monopoles with the Pierre Auger observatory / A. Aab, P. Abreu, M. Aglietta, I. Al Samarai, I.F.M. Albuquerque, I. Allekotte, A. Almela, J. Alvarez Castillo, J. Alvarez Muñiz, M. Ambrosio, G.A. Anastasi, L. Anchordoqui, B. Andrada, S. Andringa, C. Aramo, F. Arqueros, N. Arsene, H. Asorey, P. Assis, J. Aublin, G. Avila, A.M. Badescu, A. Balaceanu, R.J. Barreira Luz, C. Baus, J.J. Beatty, K.H. Becker, J.A. Bellido, C. Berat, M.E. Bertaina, X. Bertou, P.L. Biermann, P. Billoir, J. Biteau, S.G. Blaess, A. Blanco, J. Blazek, C. Bleve, M. Boháčová, D. Boncioli, C. Bonifazi, N. Borodai, A.M. Botti, J. Brack, I. Brancus, T. Bretz, A. Bridgeman, F.L. Briechle, P. Buchholz, A. Bueno, S. Buitink, M. Buscemi, K.S. Caballero Mora, L. Caccianiga, A. Cancio, F. Canfora, L. Caramete, R. Caruso, A. Castellina, G. Cataldi, L. Cazon, R. Cester, A.G. Chavez, J.A. Chinellato, J. Chudoba, R.W. Clay, R. Colalillo, A. Coleman, L. Collica, M.R. Coluccia, R. Conceição, F. Contreras, M.J. Cooper, S. Coutu, C.E. Covault, J. Cronin, S. D'Amico, B. Daniel, S. Dasso, K. Daumiller, B.R. Dawson, R.M. De Almeida, S.J. De Jong, G. De Mauro, J.R.T. De Mello Neto, I. De Mitri, J. De Oliveira, V. De Souza, J. Debatin, O. Deligny, C. Di Giulio, A. Di Matteo, M.L. Díaz Castro, F. Diogo, C. Dobrigkeit, J.C. D'Olivo, A. Dorofeev, R.C. Dos Anjos, M.T. Dova, A. Dundovic, J. Ebr, R. Engel, M. Erdmann, M. Erfani, C.O. Escobar, J. Espadanal, A. Etchegoyen, H. Falcke, K. Fang, G. Farrar, A.C. Fauth, N. Fazzini, B. Fick, J.M. Figueira, A. Filipčič, O. Fratu, M.M. Freire, T. Fujii, A. Fuster, R. Gaior, B. García, D. Garcia Pinto, F. Gaté, H. Gemmeke, A. Gherghel Lascu, P.L. Ghia, U. Giaccari, M. Giammarchi, M. Giller, D. Głas, C. Glaser, H. Glass, G. Golup, M. Gómez Berisso, P.F. Gómez Vitale, N. González, B. Gookin, A. Gorgi, P. Gorham, P. Gouffon, A.F. Grillo, T.D. Grubb, F. Guarino, G.P. Guedes, M.R. Hampel, P. Hansen, D. Harari, T.A. Harrison, J.L. Harton, Q. Hasankiadeh, A. Haungs, T. Hebbeker, D. Heck, P. Heimann, A.E. Herve, G.C. Hill, C. Hojvat, E. Holt, P. Homola, J.R. Hörandel, P. Horvath, M. Hrabovský, T. Huege, J. Hulsman, A. Insolia, P.G. Isar, I. Jandt, S. Jansen, J.A. Johnsen, M. Josebachuili, A. Kääpä, O. Kambeitz, K.H. Kampert, P. Kasper, I. Katkov, B. Keilhauer, E. Kemp, J. Kemp, R.M. Kieckhafer, H.O. Klages, M. Kleifges, J. Kleinfeller, R. Krause, N. Krohm, D. Kuempel, G. Kukec Mezek, N. Kunka, A. Kuotb Awad, D. Lahurd, M. Lauscher, P. Lebrun, R. Legumina, M.A. Leigui De Oliveira, A. Letessier Selvon, I. Lhenry Yvon, K. Link, L. Lopes, R. López, A. López Casado, Q. Luce, A. Lucero, M. Malacari, M. Mallamaci, D. Mandat, P. Mantsch, A.G. Mariazzi, I.C. Mariş, G. Marsella, D. Martello, H. Martinez, O. Martínez Bravo, J.J. Masías Meza, H.J. Mathes, S. Mathys, J. Matthews, J.A.J. Matthews, G. Matthiae, E. Mayotte, P.O. Mazur, C. Medina, G. Medina Tanco, D. Melo, A. Menshikov, S. Messina, M.I. Micheletti, L. Middendorf, I.A. Minaya, L. Miramonti, B. Mitrica, D. Mockler, L. Molina Bueno, S. Mollerach, F. Montanet, C. Morello, M. Mostafá, G. Müller, M.A. Muller, S. Müller, I. Naranjo, L. Nellen, J. Neuser, P.H. Nguyen, M. Niculescu Oglinzanu, M. Niechciol, L. Niemietz, T. Niggemann, D. Nitz, D. Nosek, V. Novotny, H. Nožka, L.A. Núñez, L. Ochilo, F. Oikonomou, A. Olinto, D. Pakk Selmi Dei, M. Palatka, J. Pallotta, P. Papenbreer, G. Parente, A. Parra, T. Paul, M. Pech, F. Pedreira, J. Pkala, R. Pelayo, J. Peña Rodriguez, L.A.S. Pereira, L. Perrone, C. Peters, S. Petrera, J. Phuntsok, R. Piegaia, T. Pierog, P. Pieroni, M. Pimenta, V. Pirronello, M. Platino, M. Plum, C. Porowski, R.R. Prado, P. Privitera, M. Prouza, E.J. Quel, S. Querchfeld, S. Quinn, R. Ramos Pollan, J. Rautenberg, D. Ravignani, D. Reinert, B. Revenu, J. Ridky, M. Risse, P. Ristori, V. Rizi, W. Rodrigues De Carvalho, G. Rodriguez Fernandez, J. Rodriguez Rojo, D. Rogozin, M. Roth, E. Roulet, A.C. Rovero, S.J. Saffi, A. Saftoiu, F. Salamida, H. Salazar, A. Saleh, F. Salesa Greus, G. Salina, J.D. Sanabria Gomez, F. Sánchez, P. Sanchez Lucas, E.M. Santos, E. Santos, F. Sarazin, B. Sarkar, R. Sarmento, C.A. Sarmiento, R. Sato, M. Schauer, V. Scherini, H. Schieler, M. Schimp, D. Schmidt, O. Scholten, P. Schovánek, F.G. Schröder, A. Schulz, J. Schulz, J. Schumacher, S.J. Sciutto, A. Segreto, M. Settimo, A. Shadkam, R.C. Shellard, G. Sigl, G. Silli, O. Sima, A. Śmiałkowski, R. Šmída, G.R. Snow, P. Sommers, S. Sonntag, J. Sorokin, R. Squartini, D. Stanca, S. Stanič, J. Stasielak, P. Stassi, F. Strafella, F. Suarez, M. Suarez Durán, T. Sudholz, T. Suomijärvi, A.D. Supanitsky, J. Swain, Z. Szadkowski, A. Taboada, O.A. Taborda, A. Tapia, V.M. Theodoro, C. Timmermans, C.J. Todero Peixoto, L. Tomankova, B. Tomé, G.T. orralba Elipe, D. Torres Machado, M. Torri, P. Travnicek, M. Trini, R. Ulrich, M. Unger, M. Urban, J.F. Valdés Galicia, I. Valiño, L. Valore, G. Van Aar, P. Van Bodegom, A.M. Van Den Berg, A. Van Vliet, E. Varela, B. Vargas Cárdenas, G. Varner, J.R. Vázquez, R.A. Vázquez, D. Veberič, I.D. Vergara Quispe, V. Verzi, J. Vicha, L. Villaseñor, S. Vorobiov, H. Wahlberg, O. Wainberg, D. Walz, A.A. Watson, M. Weber, A. Weindl, L. Wiencke, H. Wilczyński, T. Winchen, D. Wittkowski, B. Wundheiler, S. Wykes, L. Yang, D. Yelos, A. Yushkov, E. Zas, D. Zavrtanik, M. Zavrtanik, A. Zepeda, B. Zimmermann, M. Ziolkowski, Z. Zong, F. Zuccarello. - In: PHYSICAL REVIEW D. - ISSN 2470-0010. - 94:8(2016 Oct), pp. 082002.1-082002.12. [10.1103/PhysRevD.94.082002]
Search for ultrarelativistic magnetic monopoles with the Pierre Auger observatory
L. Caccianiga;M. Giammarchi;M. Mallamaci;L. Miramonti;
2016
Abstract
We present a search for ultrarelativistic magnetic monopoles with the Pierre Auger observatory. Such particles, possibly a relic of phase transitions in the early Universe, would deposit a large amount of energy along their path through the atmosphere, comparable to that of ultrahigh-energy cosmic rays (UHECRs). The air-shower profile of a magnetic monopole can be effectively distinguished by the fluorescence detector from that of standard UHECRs. No candidate was found in the data collected between 2004 and 2012, with an expected background of less than 0.1 event from UHECRs. The corresponding 90% confidence level (C.L.) upper limits on the flux of ultrarelativistic magnetic monopoles range from 10-19(cm2 sr s)-1 for a Lorentz factor γ=109 to 2.5×10-21(cm2 sr s)-1 for γ=1012. These results - the first obtained with a UHECR detector - improve previously published limits by up to an order of magnitude.File | Dimensione | Formato | |
---|---|---|---|
PhysRevD.94.082002_published.pdf
accesso aperto
Descrizione: Articolo principale
Tipologia:
Publisher's version/PDF
Dimensione
854.97 kB
Formato
Adobe PDF
|
854.97 kB | Adobe PDF | Visualizza/Apri |
Pubblicazioni consigliate
I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.