Measurement of the proton-air cross section with Telescope Array\u27s Black Rock Mesa and Long Ridge fluorescence detectors, and surface array in hybrid mode

Ultra high energy cosmic rays provide the highest known energy source in the universe to measure proton cross sections. Though conditions for collecting such data are less controlled than an accelerator environment, current generation cosmic ray observatories have large enough exposures to collect significant statistics for a reliable measurement for energies above what can be attained in the lab. Cosmic ray measurements of cross section use atmospheric calorimetry to measure depth of air shower maximum (Xmax), which is related to the primary particle’s energy and mass. The tail of the Xmax distribution is assumed to be dominated by showers generated by protons, allowing measurement of the inelastic proton-air cross section. In this work the proton-air inelastic cross section measurement, σ_inel_p−air, using data observed by Telescope Array’s Black Rock Mesa and Long Ridge fluorescence detectors and surface detector array in hybrid mode is presented. σ_inel_p−air is observed to be 520.1 ± 35.8 [Stat.] +25.0 −40 [Sys.] mb at √s = 73 TeV. The total proton-proton cross section is subsequently inferred from Glauber formalism and is found to be σ_tot_pp = 139.4 +23.4−21.3[Stat.] +15.0−24.0[Sys.] mb