Depth of maximum of air-shower profiles: testing the compatibility of measurements performed at the Pierre Auger Observatory and the Telescope Array experiment

Abstract

At the Pierre Auger Observatory and the Telescope Array, the measurements of depths of maximum of air-shower profiles, $X_\mathrm{max}$, are performed using direct observations of the longitudinal development of showers with the help of the fluorescence telescopes. Though the same detection technique is used at both installations, the straightforward comparison of the characteristics of the measured $X_\mathrm{max}$ distributions is not possible due to the different approaches to the analysis of the recorded events. In this work, the Auger-Telescope Array composition working group presents a technique to compare the $X_\mathrm{max}$ measurements from the Auger Observatory and the Telescope Array. Applying this technique the compatibility of the first two moments of the measured $X_\mathrm{max}$ distributions is qualitatively tested for energies $10^{18.2}~{\rm eV} < E < 10^{19.0}~{\rm eV}$ using the recently published Telescope Array data from the Black Rock Mesa and Long Ridge fluorescence detector stations. For a quantitative comparison, simulations of air showers with EPOS-LHC, folded with effects of the Telescope Array detector, are required along with the inclusion in the analysis of the systematic uncertainties in the measurements of $X_\mathrm{max}$ and the energies of the events.