11088776
The offline software framework of the Pierre Auger Observatory
The Pierre Auger Observatory is designed to unveil the nature and the origins of the highest energy cosmic rays. The large and geographically dispersed collaboration of physicists and the wide-ranging collection of simulation and reconstruction tasks pose some special challenges for the offline analysis software. We have designed and implemented a general purpose framework which allows collaborators to contribute algorithms and sequencing instructions to build up the variety of applications they require. The framework includes machinery to manage these user codes, to organize the abundance of user-contributed configuration files, to facilitate multi-format file handling, and to provide access to event and time-dependent detector information which can reside in various data sources. A number of utilities are also provided, including a novel geometry package which allows manipulation of abstract geometrical objects independent of coordinate system choice. The framework is implemented in C++, and takes advantage of object oriented design and common open source tools, while keeping the user side simple enough for C++ novices to learn in a reasonable time. The distribution system incorporates unit and acceptance testing in order to support rapid development of both the core framework and contributed user code
58922446
Disentangling the air shower components using scintillator and water Cherenkov detectors
We consider a ground array of scintillation and water Cherenkov detectors with the purpose of determining the muon content of air showers. The different response characteristics of these two types of detectors to the components of the air shower provide a way to infer their relative contributions. We use a detailed simulation to estimate the impact of parameters, such as scintillation detector size, in the determination of the size of the muon component.
118006276
Signatures of air showers induced by gluinos within the context of split-SUSY
It has been proposed recently that, within the framework of split Supersymmetry, long lived gluinos generated in astrophysical sources could be detected using the signatures of the air showers they produce, thus providing a lower bound for their lifetime and for the scale of SUSY breaking. We present the longitudinal profile and lateral spread of -hadron induced extensive air showers and consider the possibility of measuring them with a detector with the characteristics of the Pierre Auger Observatory.
120030800
Results from the Pierre Auger Observatory
The Pierre Auger Observatory was established to study the most energetic cosmic rays. We will discuss the status and the main results from the observatory. These include the measurement of the energy spectrum above 1018 eV, where we observe a suppression for energies larger than 3×1019 eV, and the different estimates of primary mass composition. We will report on searches for ultra-high energy photons and neutrinos leading to upper limits on their fluxes. The observed correlation between the arrival directions of cosmic rays with energies larger than 5.5×1019 eV will also be discussed.
119421301
Gluino air showers as a signal of split supersymmetry
It has been proposed recently that, within the framework of split Supersymmetry, long lived gluinos generated in astrophysical sources could be detected using the signatures of the air showers they produce, thus providing a lower bound for their lifetime and for the scale of SUSY breaking. We present the longitudinal profile and lateral spread of $G$-hadron induced extensive air showers and consider the possibility of measuring them with a detector with the characteristics of the Pierre Auger Observatory.
15555845
The Offline Software of the Pierre Auger Observatory: Lessons Learned
The Offline software framework for data analysis of the Pierre Auger Observatory is a set of computational tools developed to cater to the needs of a large and geographically dispersed collaboration established to measure the spectrum, arrival directions, and composition of ultra-high energy cosmic rays over a period of 20 years. One of its design goals was to facilitate the collaborative effort by allowing collaborators to progressively contribute small portions of code. The observatory has grown over time and it has undergone improvements and additions that have tested the flexibility of the framework. The framework was originally thought to accommodate a hybrid view of cosmic ray detection, made of a surface and a fluorescence detector. Since then, the framework has been extended to include a radio antenna array and both under-ground and above-ground scintillator arrays. Different tools from the framework have been used by other collaborations, notably NA61/Shine and HAWC. All these experiences accumulated over the years allow us to draw conclusions in terms of the successes and failures of the original design.
190997456
Spectroscopy, reactions and decay mechanisms of mesons with heavy quarks
[ES] Se presenta en este trabajo un estudio exhaustivo de las propiedades de mesones pesados usando un modelo de quark constituyente no relativista. Nos hemos centrado en la descripcion del espectro y de las desintegraciones electromagneticas, fuertes y debiles. Pueden encontrarse a lo largo de este trabajo la descripcion de las diferentes aproximaciones que se usan y la comparacion de nuestros resultados con los datos experimentales y con los resultados obtenidos a traves de otras aproximaciones. Se ha obtenido una descripcion global bastante razonable del espectro de mesones pesados. Se han hecho algunas asignaciones de los mesones XYZ, explicando otras propiedades de los estados asignados. Se han sugerido ciertas modificaciones al modelo de quark constituyente original. Como la incorporacion al potencial OGE de las correcciones a 1-loop que ha servido para explicar la masa experimental del meson 
D_{s0}^{*}(2317) como un estado c\bar{s}. Tambien, la renormalizacion con condiciones de contorno aplicada al modelo de quark constituyente nos ha servido para desenmaranar la fisica del estado fundamental respecto de la de los estados excitados. Hemos llevado a cabo el calculo de las desintegraciones OZI-permitidas de los mesones pesados. Para ello hemos utilizado dos modelos de desintegracion, el modelo 3P0 y un modelo microscopico. Hemos usado la aproximacion QCDME para calcular transiciones OZI-suprimidas entre estados vector del charmonio y tambien del botomonio. Hemos llevado a cabo un estudio de las desintegraciones semileptonicas de los mesones B y B_{s} yendo a mesones encantados y encantados-extranos, respectivamente, y que estan orbitalmente excitados. El analisis de las desintegraciones no leptonicas del meson B en canales D^{(*)}D_{sJ} tambien se incluye en este trabajo. Se mencionan a continuacion los resultados mas relevantes. La nueva asignacion de la resonancia \psi(4415) como un estado en onda-D dejando el estado 4S al meson X(4360). La dependencia con la escala del parametro libre \gamma del modelo 3P0. La descripcion del meson D_{s1}(2536) como un estado j_{q}=3/2 que explica simultaneamente todas sus propiedades; [EN] An exhaustive study of heavy meson properties within a nonrelativistic constituent quark model has been presented in this dissertation. Within the heavy quark sector, we have focused on the spectroscopy and on the electromagnetic, strong and weak decays. The description of the approaches used and the discussion of our results, comparing them with the experimental data and also with the results coming from different theoretical approaches, can be followed along the work. A quite reasonable global description of the heavy meson spectra has been reached. Some tentative assignments of the XYZ mesons has been done explaining other properties of the assigned states. Certain modifications to the model have been suggested. The inclusion of one-loop QCD corrections to the spin-dependent terms of the OGE has served to explain the lower mass of the D_{s0}^{*}(2317) meson as a canonical c\bar{s}…