Suchergebnisse

The successful installation, commissioning, and operation of the Pierre Auger Observatory would not have been possible without the strong commitment and effort from the technical and administrative staff in Malargüe. We are very grateful to the following agencies and organizations for financial support: Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica, Fundación Antorchas, Gobierno De La Provincia de Mendoza, Municipalidad de Malargüe, NDM Holdings and Valle Las Leñas, in gratitude for their continuing cooperation over land access, Argentina; the Australian Research Council; Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq), Financiadora de Estudos e Projetos (FINEP), Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de Rio de Janeiro (FAPERJ), São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP) Grants # 2010/07359-6 and # 1999/05404-3, Ministério de Ciência e Tecnologia (MCT), Brazil; MSMT-CR LG13007, 7AMB14AR005, CZ.1.05/2.1.00/03.0058 and the Czech Science Foundation Grant 14-17501S, Czech Republic; Centre de Calcul IN2P3/CNRS, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Conseil Régional Ile-de-France, Département Physique Nucléaire et Corpusculaire (PNC-IN2P3/CNRS), Département Sciences de l'Univers (SDU-INSU/CNRS), Institut Lagrange de Paris, ILP LABEX ANR-10-LABX-63, within the Investissements d'Avenir ProgrammeANR-11-IDEX-0004-02, France; Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (BMBF), Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG), Finanzministerium Baden-Württemberg, Helmholtz Alliance for Astroparticle Physics (HAP), Helmholtz-Gemeinschaft Deutscher Forschungszentren (HGF), Ministerium für Wissenschaft und Forschung, Nordrhein Westfalen, Ministerium für Wissenschaft, Forschung und Kunst, Baden-Württemberg, Germany; Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica (INAF), Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN), Ministero dell'Istruzione, dell'Università e della Ricerca (MIUR), Gran Sasso Center for Astroparticle Physics (CFA), CETEMPS Center of Excellence, Italy; Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología (CONACYT), Mexico; Ministerie van Onderwijs, Cultuur en Wetenschap, Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek (NWO), Stichting voor Fundamenteel Onderzoek der Materie (FOM), Netherlands; National Centre for Research and Development, Grant nos. ERA-NETASPERA/01/11 and ERA-NET-ASPERA/02/11, National Science Centre, Grant nos. 2013/08/M/ST9/00322, and 2013/08/M/ST9/00728 and HARMONIA 5 – 2013/10/M/ST9/00062, Poland; Portuguese national funds and FEDER funds within COMPETE – Programa Operacional Factores de Competitividade through Fundação para a Ciencia e a Tecnologia, Portugal; Romanian Authority for Scientific Research ANCS, CNDI-UEFISCDI partnership projects nos. 20/2012 and nr.194/2012, project nos. 1/ASPERA2/2012 ERA-NET, PN-II-RU-PD-2011-3-0145-17, and PN-II-RU-PD-2011- 3-0062, the Minister of National Education, Programme for research – Space Technology and Advanced Research – STAR, project number 83/2013, Romania; Slovenian Research Agency, Slovenia; Comunidad de Madrid, FEDER funds, Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia, Xunta de Galicia, European Community 7th Framework Program, Grant no. FP7-PEOPLE-2012-IEF-328826, Spain; Science and Technology Facilities Council, United Kingdom; Department of Energy, Contract no. DE-AC02-07CH11359, DE-FR02-04ER41300, DE-FG02-99ER41107 and DE-SC0011689, National Science Foundation, Grant no. 0450696, The Grainger Foundation, USA; NAFOSTED, Vietnam; Marie Curie-IRSES/EPLANET, European Particle Physics Latin American Network, European Union 7th Framework Program, Grant no. PIRSES-2009- GA-246806; and UNESCO. ; The Pierre Auger Observatory, located on a vast, high plain in western Argentina, is the world׳s largest cosmic ray observatory. The objectives of the Observatory are to probe the origin and characteristics of cosmic rays above 1017 eV and to study the interactions of these, the most energetic particles observed in nature. The Auger design features an array of 1660 water Cherenkov particle detector stations spread over 3000 km2 overlooked by 24 air fluorescence telescopes. In addition, three high elevation fluorescence telescopes overlook a 23.5 km2, 61-detector infilled array with 750 m spacing. The Observatory has been in successful operation since completion in 2008 and has recorded data from an exposure exceeding 40,000 km2 sr yr. This paper describes the design and performance of the detectors, related subsystems and infrastructure that make up the Observatory. ; Comision Nacional de Energia Atomica ; Fundacion Antorchas ; Gobierno De La Provincia de Mendoza ; Municipalidad de Malargue ; NDM Holdings and Valle Las Lenas ; Australian Research Council ; National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) ; Ciencia Tecnologia e Inovacao (FINEP) ; Carlos Chagas Filho Foundation for Research Support of the State of Rio de Janeiro (FAPERJ) ; Fundacao de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado de Sao Paulo (FAPESP) 2010/07359-6 1999/05404-3 ; Ministerio de Ciencia e Tecnologia (MCT), Brazil ; Ministry of Education, Youth & Sports - Czech Republic LG13007 7AMB14AR005 CZ.1.05/2.1.00/03.0058 ; Grant Agency of the Czech Republic Czech Republic Government 14-17501S ; Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) ; Region Ile-de-France ; Departement Physique Nucleaire et Corpusculaire PNC-IN2P3/CNRS ; Departement Sciences de l'Univers (SDU-INSU/CNRS) ; Institut Lagrange de Paris ; French National Research Agency (ANR) ANR-11-IDEX-0004-02 ANR-10-LABX-63 ; Federal Ministry of Education & Research (BMBF) ; German Research Foundation (DFG) ; Finanzministerium Baden-Wurttemberg ; Helmholtz Alliance for Astroparticle Physics (HAP) ; Helmholtz Association ; Ministerium fur Wissenschaft und Forschung ; Nordrhein Westfalen ; Ministerium fur Wissenschaft ; Forschung und Kunst ; Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany ; Istituto Nazionale Astrofisica (INAF) ; Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN) ; Ministry of Education, Universities and Research (MIUR) ; Gran Sasso Center for Astroparticle Physics (CFA) ; CETEMPS Center of Excellence, Italy ; Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnologia (CONACyT) ; Ministerie van Onderwijs ; Cultuur en Wetenschap ; Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO) ; FOM (The Netherlands) Netherlands Government ; National Centre for Research and Development ERA-NET-ASPERA/01/11 ERA-NET-ASPERA/02/11 ; National Science Centre, Poland 2013/08/M/ST9/00322 2013/08/M/ST9/00728 HARMONIA 5 - 2013/10/M/ST9/00062 ; Portuguese national funds ; FEDER funds within COMPETE - Programa Operacional Factores de Competitividade through Fundacao para a Ciencia e a Tecnologia, Portugal ; Romanian Authority for Scientific Research ANCS ; CNDI-UEFISCDI 20/2012 194/2012 1/ASPERA2/2012 ERA-NET PN-II-RU-PD-2011-3-0145-17 PN-II-RU-PD-2011-3-0062 ; Programme for research - Space Technology and Advanced Research - STAR, Romania 83/2013 ; Slovenian Research Agency - Slovenia ; Comunidad de Madrid Instituto de Salud Carlos III ; European Union (EU) ; Spanish Government ; Xunta de Galicia ; European Community, Spain FP7-PEOPLE-2012-IEF-328826 ; Science & Technology Facilities Council (STFC) ; United States Department of Energy (DOE) DE-AC02-07CH11359 DE-FR02-04ER41300 DE-FG02-99ER41107 DE-SC0011689 ; National Science Foundation (NSF) 0450696 ; Grainger Foundation, USA ; National Foundation for Science & Technology Development (NAFOSTED) ; Marie Curie-IRSES/EPLANET ; European Particle Physics Latin American Network ; European Union (EU) PIRSES-2009-GA-246806 ; UNESCO

The advent of the Auger Engineering Radio Array (AERA) necessitates the development of a powerful framework for the analysis of radio measurements of cosmic ray air showers. As AERA performs "radio-hybrid" measurements of air shower radio emission in coincidence with the surface particle detectors and fluorescence telescopes of the Pierre Auger Observatory, the radio analysis functionality had to be incorporated in the existing hybrid analysis solutions for fluoresence and surface detector data. This goal has been achieved in a natural way by extending the existing Auger Offline software framework with radio functionality. In this article, we lay out the design, highlights and features of the radio extension implemented in the Auger Offline framework. Its functionality has achieved a high degree of sophistication and offers advanced features such as vectorial reconstruction of the electric field, advanced signal processing algorithms, a transparent and efficient handling of FFTs, a very detailed simulation of detector effects, and the read-in of multiple data formats including data from various radio simulation codes. The source code of this radio functionality can be made available to interested parties on request. ; We are grateful to the following agencies and organizations for financial support: Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica, Fundación Antorchas, Gobierno De La Provincia de Mendoza, Municipalidad de Malargüe, NDM Holdings and Valle Las Leñas, in gratitude for their continuing cooperation over land access, Argentina; the Australian Research Council; Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq), Financiadora de Estudos e Projetos (FINEP), Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de Rio de Janeiro (FAPERJ), Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP), Ministério de Ciência e Tecnologia (MCT), Brazil; AVCR, AV0Z10100502 and AV0Z10100522, GAAV KJB300100801 and KJB100100904, MSMT-CR LA08016, LC527, 1M06002, and MSM0021620859, Czech Republic; Centre de Calcul IN2P3/CNRS, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Conseil Régional Ile-de-France, Département Physique Nucléaire et Corpusculaire (PNC-IN2P3/CNRS), Département Sciences de l'Univers (SDU-INSU/CNRS), France; Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (BMBF), Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG), Finanzministerium Baden-Württemberg, Helmholtz-Gemeinschaft Deutscher Forschungszentren (HGF), Ministerium für Wissenschaft und Forschung, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Ministerium für Wissenschaft, Forschung und Kunst, Baden-Württemberg, Germany; Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN), Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica (INAF), Ministero dell'Istruzione, dell'Università e della Ricerca (MIUR), Gran Sasso Center for Astroparticle Physics (CFA), Italy; Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología (CONACYT), Mexico; Ministerie van Onderwijs, Cultuur en Wetenschap, Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek (NWO), Stichting voor Fundamenteel Onderzoek der Materie (FOM), Netherlands; Ministry of Science and Higher Education, Grant nos. 1 P03 D 014 30 and N N202 207238, Poland; Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, Portugal; Ministry for Higher Education, Science, and Technology, Slovenian Research Agency, Slovenia; Comunidad de Madrid, Consejería de Educación de la Comunidad de Castilla La Mancha, FEDER funds, Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación and Consolider-Ingenio 2010 (CPAN), Generalitat Valenciana, Junta de Andalucía, Xunta de Galicia, Spain; Science and Technology Facilities Council, United Kingdom; Department of Energy, Contract nos. DE-AC02-07CH11359, DE-FR02-04ER41300; National Science Foundation, Grant no. 0969400, The Grainger Foundation USA; ALFA-EC/HELEN, European Union 6th Framework Program, Grant no. MEIF-CT-2005-025057, European Union 7th Framework Program, Grant no. PIEF-GA-2008-220240, and UNESCO.

We present the results of searches for dipolar-type anisotropies in different energy ranges above 2.5 × 1017 eV with the surface detector array of the Pierre Auger Observatory, reporting on both the phase and the amplitude measurements of the first harmonic modulation in the right-ascension distribution. Upper limits on the amplitudes are obtained, which provide the most stringent bounds at present, being below 2% at 99% C.L. for EeV energies. We also compare our results to those of previous experiments as well as with some theoretical expectations. ; We are very grateful to the following agencies and organizations for financial support: Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica, Fundación Antorchas, Gobierno De La Provincia de Mendoza, Municipalidad de Malargüe, NDM Holdings and Valle Las Leñas, in gratitude for their continuing cooperation over land access, Argentina; the Australian Research Council; Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq), Financiadora de Estudos e Projetos (FINEP), Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de Rio de Janeiro (FAPERJ), Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP), Ministério de Ciência e Tecnologia (MCT), Brazil; AVCR, AV0Z10100502 and AV0Z10100522, GAAV, KJB300100801 and KJB100100904, MSMT-CRLA08016, LC527, 1M06002, and MSM0021620859, Czech Republic; Centre de Calcul IN2P3/CNRS, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Conseil Régional Ile-de-France, Département Physique Nucléaire et Corpusculaire (PNC-IN2P3/CNRS), Département Sciences de l'Univers (SDU-INSU/CNRS), France; Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (BMBF), Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG), Finanzministerium Baden – Württemberg, Helmholtz-Gemeinschaft Deutscher Forschungszentren (HGF), Ministerium für Wissenschaft und Forschung,Nordrhein-Westfalen, Ministerium für Wissenschaft, Forschung und Kunst, Baden-Württemberg, Germany; Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN), Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica (INAF), Ministero dell'Istruzione, dell'Università e della Ricerca (MIUR), Gran Sasso Center for Astroparticle Physics (CFA), Italy; Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología (CONACYT), Mexico; Ministerie van Onderwijs, Cultuur en Wetenschap, Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek (NWO), Stichting voor Fundamenteel Onderzoek der Materie (FOM), Netherlands; Ministry of Science and Higher Education, Grant Nos. 1 P03 D 014 30 and N N202 207238, Poland; Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, Portugal; Ministry for Higher Education, Science, and Technology, Slovenian Research Agency, Slovenia; Comunidad de Madrid, Consejería de Educación de la Comunidad de Castilla La Mancha, FEDER funds, Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación and Consolider-Ingenio 2010 (CPAN), Generalitat Valenciana, Junta de Andalucía, Xunta de Galicia, Spain; Science and Technology Facilities Council, United Kingdom; Department of Energy, Contract Nos. DE-AC02-07CH11359, DE-FR02-04ER41300, National Science Foundation, Grant No. 0450696, The Grainger Foundation, USA; ALFA-EC/ HELEN, European Union 6th Framework Program, Grant No. MEIF-CT-2005-025057, European Union 7th Framework Program, Grant No. PIEF-GA-2008-220240, and UNESCO.

Erratum: Phys. Rev. D 85, 029902(E) (2012) [http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.85.029902] ; The Surface Detector of the Pierre Auger Observatory is sensitive to neutrinos of all flavours above 0.1 EeV. These interact through charged and neutral currents in the atmosphere giving rise to extensive air showers. When interacting deeply in the atmosphere at nearly horizontal incidence, neutrinos can be distinguished from regular hadronic cosmic rays by the broad time structure of their shower signals in the water-Cherenkov detectors. In this paper we present for the first time an analysis based on down-going neutrinos. We describe the search procedure, the possible sources of background, the method to compute the exposure and the associated systematic uncertainties. No candidate neutrinos have been found in data collected from 1 January 2004 to 31 May 2010. Assuming an E^-2 differential energy spectrum the limit on the single flavour neutrino is (E^2 * dN/dE) < 1.74x10^-7 GeV cm^-2 s^-1 sr^-1 at 90% C.L. in the energy range 1x10^17 eV < E < 1x10^20 eV. ; We are very grateful to the following agencies and organizations for financial support: Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica, Fundación Antorchas, Gobierno De La Provincia de Mendoza, Municipalidad de Malargüe, NDM Holdings and Valle Las Leñas, in gratitude for their continuing cooperation over land access, Argentina; the Australian Research Council; Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq), Financiadora de Estudos e Projetos (FINEP), Fundaçao de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de Rio de Janeiro(FAPERJ), Fundaçao de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de Sao Paulo (FAPESP), Ministerio de Ciencia e Tecnologia (MCT), Brazil; AVCR AV0Z10100502 and AV0Z10100522, GAAV KJB100100904, MSMT-CRLA08016, LC527, 1M06002, and MSM0021620859, Czech Republic; Centre de Calcul IN2P3/CNRS, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Conseil Régional Ile-de-France, Département Physique Nucléaire et Corpusculaire (PNC-IN2P3/CNRS), Département Sciences de l'Univers (SDU-INSU/CNRS), France; Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (BMBF), Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG), Finanzministerium Baden-Württemberg, Helmholtz-Gemeinschaft Deutscher Forschungszentren (HGF), Ministerium für Wissenschaft und Forschung, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Ministerium für Wissenschaft, Forschung und Kunst, Baden- Württemberg, Germany; Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN), Ministero dell'Istruzione, dell'Università e della Ricerca (MIUR), Italy; Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología (CONACYT), Mexico; Ministerie van Onderwijs, Cultuur en Wetenschap, Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek (NWO), Stichting voor Fundamenteel Onderzoek der Materie (FOM), Netherlands; Ministry of Science and Higher Education, Grant Nos. 1 P03 D 014 30, N202 090 31/0623, and PAP/218/2006, Poland; Fundaçao para a Ciencia e a Tecnologia, Portugal; Ministry for Higher Education, Science, and Technology, Slovenian Research Agency, Slovenia; Comunidad de Madrid, Consejería de Educación de la Comunidad de Castilla La Mancha, FEDER funds, Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación and Consolider-Ingenio 2010 (CPAN), Xunta de Galicia, Spain; Science and Technology Facilities Council, United Kingdom; Department of Energy, Contract Nos. DEAC02-07CH11359, DE-FR02-04ER41300, National Science Foundation, Grant No. 0450696, The Grainger Foundation USA; ALFA-EC / HELEN, European Union 6th Framework Program, Grant No. MEIF-CT-2005-025057, European Union 7th Framework Program, Grant No. PIEF-GA-2008-220240, and UNESCO.

Data collected by the Pierre Auger Observatory through 31 August 2007 showed evidence for anisotropy in the arrival directions of cosmic rays above the Greisen–Zatsepin–Kuz'min energy threshold, 6 × 1019 eV. The anisotropy was measured by the fraction of arrival directions that are less than 3.1° from the position of an active galactic nucleus within 75 Mpc (using the Véron-Cetty and Véron 12th catalog). An updated measurement of this fraction is reported here using the arrival directions of cosmic rays recorded above the same energy threshold through 31 December 2009. The number of arrival directions has increased from 27 to 69, allowing a more precise measurement. The correlating fraction is View the MathML source, compared with 21% expected for isotropic cosmic rays. This is down from the early estimate of View the MathML source. The enlarged set of arrival directions is examined also in relation to other populations of nearby extragalactic objects: galaxies in the 2 Microns All Sky Survey and active galactic nuclei detected in hard X-rays by the Swift Burst Alert Telescope. A celestial region around the position of the radiogalaxy Cen A has the largest excess of arrival directions relative to isotropic expectations. The 2-point autocorrelation function is shown for the enlarged set of arrival directions and compared to the isotropic expectation. ; We are very grateful to the following agencies and organizations for financial support: Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica, Fundación Antorchas, Gobierno De La Provincia de Mendoza, Municipalidad de Malargüe, NDM Holdings and Valle Las Leñas, in gratitude for their continuing cooperation over land access, Argentina; the Australian Research Council; Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq), Financiadora de Estudos e Projetos (FINEP), Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de Rio de Janeiro (FAPERJ), Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP), Ministério de Ciência e Tecnologia (MCT), Brazil; AVCR AV0Z10100502 and AV0Z10100522, GAAV KJB300100801 and KJB100100904, MSMT-CR LA08016, LC527, 1M06002, and MSM0021620859, Czech Republic; Centre de Calcul IN2P3/CNRS, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Conseil Régional Ile-de-France, Département Physique Nucléaire et Corpusculaire (PNC-IN2P3/CNRS), Département Sciences de l'Univers (SDU-INSU/CNRS), France; Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (BMBF), Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG), Finanzministerium Baden-Württemberg, Helmholtz-Gemeinschaft Deutscher Forschungszentren (HGF), Ministerium für Wissenschaft und Forschung, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Ministerium für Wissenschaft, Forschung und Kunst, Baden-Württemberg, Germany; Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN), Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica (INAF), Ministero dell'Istruzione, dell'Università e della Ricerca (MIUR), Italy; Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología (CONACYT), Mexico; Ministerie van Onderwijs, Cultuur en Wetenschap, Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek (NWO), Stichting voor Fundamenteel Onderzoek der Materie (FOM), Netherlands; Ministry of Science and Higher Education, Grant Nos. 1 P03 D 014 30 and N N202 207238, Poland; Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, Portugal; Ministry for Higher Education, Science, and Technology, Slovenian Research Agency, Slovenia; Comunidad de Madrid, Consejería de Educación de la Comunidad de Castilla La Mancha, FEDER funds, Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación and Consolider-Ingenio 2010 (CPAN), Generalitat Valenciana, Junta de Andalucía, Xunta de Galicia, Spain; Science and Technology Facilities Council, United Kingdom; Department of Energy, Contract Nos. DE-AC02-07CH11359, DE-FR02-04ER41300, National Science Foundation, Grant No. 0450696, The Grainger Foundation USA; ALFA-EC/ HELEN, European Union 6th Framework Program, Grant No. MEIF-CT-2005-025057, European Union 7th Framework Program, Grant No. PIEF-GA-2008-220240, and UNESCO.

The successful installation, commissioning, and operation of the Pierre Auger Observatory would not have been possible without the strong commitment and effort from the technical and administrative staff in Malargue. We are very grateful to the following agencies and organizations for financial support: Comision Nacional de Energia Atomica, Fundacion Antorchas, Gobierno De La Provincia de Mendoza, Municipalidad de Malargue, NDM Holdings and Valle Las Lenas, in gratitude for their continuing cooperation over land access, Argentina; the Australian Research Council; Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Cientifico e Tecnologico (CNPq), Financiadora de Estudos e Projetos (FINEP), Fundacao de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado de Rio de Janeiro (FAPERJ), Sao Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP) Grants No. 2010/07359-6, No. 1999/05404-3, Ministerio de Ciencia e Tecnologia (MCT), Brazil; MSMT-CR LG13007, 7AMB14AR005, CZ.1.05/2.1.00/03.0058 and the Czech Science Foundation Grant No. 14-17501S, Czech Republic; Centre de Calcul IN2P3/CNRS, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Conseil Regional Ile-de-France, Departement Physique Nucleaire et Corpusculaire (PNC-IN2P3/CNRS), Departement Sciences de l'Univers (SDU-INSU/CNRS), Institut Lagrange de Paris, ILP LABEX ANR-10-LABX-63, within the Investissements d'Avenir Programme ANR-11-IDEX-0004-02, France; Bundesministerium fur Bildung und Forschung (BMBF), Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG), Finanzministerium Baden-Wurttemberg, Helmholtz-Gemeinschaft Deutscher Forschungszentren (HGF), Ministerium fur Wissenschaft und Forschung, Nordrhein Westfalen, Ministerium fur Wissenschaft, Forschung und Kunst, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany; Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN), Ministero dell'Istruzione, dell'Universita e della Ricerca (MIUR), Gran Sasso Center for Astroparticle Physics (CFA), CETEMPS Center of Excellence, Italy; Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnologia (CONACYT), Mexico; Ministerie van Onderwijs, Cultuur en Wetenschap, Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek (NWO), Stichting voor Fundamenteel Onderzoek der Materie (FOM), Netherlands; National Centre for Research and Development, Grants No. ERA-NET-ASPERA/01/11 and No. ERA-NET-ASPERA/02/11, National Science Centre, Grants No. 2013/08/M/ST9/00322, No. 2013/08/M/ST9/00728 and No. HARMONIA 5 - 2013/10/M/ST9/00062, Poland; Portuguese national funds and FEDER funds within COMPETE - Programa Operacional Factores de Competitividade through Fundacao para a Ciencia e a Tecnologia, Portugal; Romanian Authority for Scientific Research ANCS, CNDI-UEFISCDI partnership projects nr. 20/2012 and nr. 194/2012, project nr. 1/ASPERA2/2012 ERA-NET, PN-II-RU-PD-2011-3-0145-17, and PN-II-RU-PD-2011-3-0062, the Minister of National Education, Programme for research - Space Technology and Advanced Research - STAR, project no. 83/2013, Romania; Slovenian Research Agency, Slovenia; Comunidad de Madrid, FEDER funds, Ministerio de Educacion y Ciencia, Xunta de Galicia, European Community 7th Framework Program, Grant No. FP7-PEOPLE-2012-IEF-328826, Spain; Science and Technology Facilities Council, U.K.; Department of Energy, Contracts No. DE-AC02-07CH11359, No. DE-FR02-04ER41300, No. DE-FG02-99ER41107 and No. DE-SC0011689, National Science Foundation, Grant No. 0450696, The Grainger Foundation, USA; NAFOSTED, Vietnam; Marie Curie-IRSES/EPLANET, European Particle Physics Latin American Network, European Union 7th Framework Program, Grant No. PIRSES-2009-GA-246806; and UNESCO. ; We report a study of the distributions of the depth of maximum, Xmax, of extensive air-shower profiles with energies above 1017.8 eV as observed with the fluorescence telescopes of the Pierre Auger Observatory. The analysis method for selecting a data sample with minimal sampling bias is described in detail as well as the experimental cross-checks and systematic uncertainties. Furthermore, we discuss the detector acceptance and the resolution of the Xmax measurement and provide parametrizations thereof as a function of energy. The energy dependence of the mean and standard deviation of the Xmax distributions are compared to air-shower simulations for different nuclear primaries and interpreted in terms of the mean and variance of the logarithmic mass distribution at the top of the atmosphere. ; Comision Nacional de Energia Atomica ; Fundacion Antorchas ; Gobierno De La Provincia de Mendoza ; Municipalidad de Malargue ; NDM Holdings ; Valle Las Lenas ; Australian Research Council ; National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) ; Ciencia Tecnologia e Inovacao (FINEP) ; Carlos Chagas Filho Foundation for Research Support of the State of Rio de Janeiro (FAPERJ) ; Fundacao de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado de Sao Paulo (FAPESP) 2010/07359-6 1999/05404-3 ; Ministerio de Ciencia e Tecnologia (MCT), Brazil ; Grant Agency of the Czech Republic Czech Republic Government 14-17501S ; Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) ; Region Ile-de-France ; Departement Sciences de l'Univers (SDU-INSU/CNRS) ; Institut Lagrange de Paris ; French National Research Agency (ANR) ANR-10-LABX-63 ANR-11-IDEX-0004-02 ; Federal Ministry of Education & Research (BMBF) ; German Research Foundation (DFG) ; Finanzministerium Baden-Wurttemberg ; Helmholtz Association ; Ministerium fur Wissenschaft und Forschung ; Nordrhein Westfalen ; Ministerium fur Wissenschaft ; Forschung und Kunst ; Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany ; Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN) ; Ministry of Education, Universities and Research (MIUR) ; Gran Sasso Center for Astroparticle Physics (CFA) ; CETEMPS Center of Excellence, Italy ; Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnologia (CONACyT) ; Ministerie van Onderwijs, Cultuur en Wetenschap ; Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO) ; FOM (The Netherlands) Netherlands Government ; National Centre for Research and Development ERA-NET-ASPERA/01/11 ERA-NET-ASPERA/02/11 ; National Science Centre, Poland 2013/08/M/ST9/00322 2013/08/M/ST9/00728 HARMONIA 5 - 2013/10/M/ST9/00062 ; Portuguese national funds within COMPETE - Programa Operacional Factores de Competitividade through Fundacao para a Ciencia e a Tecnologia, Portugal ; FEDER funds within COMPETE - Programa Operacional Factores de Competitividade through Fundacao para a Ciencia e a Tecnologia, Portugal ; Romanian Authority for Scientific Research ANCS ; CNDI-UEFISCDI 20/2012 194/2012 1/ASPERA2/2012 ERA-NET PN-II-RU-PD-2011-3-0145-17 PN-II-RU-PD-2011-3-0062 ; Minister of National Education, Programme for research - Space Technology and Advanced Research - STAR, Romania 83/2013 ; Slovenian Research Agency - Slovenia ; Comunidad de Madrid Instituto de Salud Carlos III ; European Union (EU) ; Spanish Government ; Xunta de Galicia ; European Community 7th Framework Program, Spain FP7-PEOPLE-2012-IEF-328826 ; Science & Technology Facilities Council (STFC) ; United States Department of Energy (DOE) DE-AC02-07CH11359 DE-FR02-04ER41300 DE-FG02-99ER41107 DE-SC0011689 ; National Science Foundation (NSF) 0450696 ; Grainger Foundation, USA ; National Foundation for Science & Technology Development (NAFOSTED) ; European Union (EU) PIRSES-2009-GA-246806 ; UNESCO ; MSMT-CR LG13007 ; 7AMB14AR005 ; CZ.1.05/2.1.00/03.0058