Eur. Phys. J. C (2025) 85: 70
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjc/s10052-024-13560-5

Regular Article - Experimental Physics

The Pierre Auger Observatory open data

¹ Centro Atómico Bariloche and Instituto Balseiro (CNEA-UNCuyo-CONICET), San Carlos de Bariloche, Argentina
² Departamento de Física and Departamento de Ciencias de la Atmósfera y los Océanos, FCEyN, Universidad de Buenos Aires and CONICET, Buenos Aires, Argentina
³ IFLP, Universidad Nacional de La Plata and CONICET, La Plata, Argentina
⁴ Instituto de Astronomía y Física del Espacio (IAFE, CONICET-UBA), Buenos Aires, Argentina
⁵ Instituto de Física de Rosario (IFIR)–CONICET/U.N.R., Facultad de Ciencias Bioquímicas y Farmacéuticas U.N.R., Rosario, Argentina
⁶ Instituto de Tecnologías en Detección y Astropartículas (CNEA, CONICET, UNSAM), Universidad Tecnológica Nacional–Facultad Regional Mendoza (CONICET/CNEA), Mendoza, Argentina
⁷ Instituto de Tecnologías en Detección y Astropartículas (CNEA, CONICET, UNSAM), Buenos Aires, Argentina
⁸ International Center of Advanced Studies and Instituto de Ciencias Físicas, ECyT-UNSAM and CONICET, Campus Miguelete – San Martín, Buenos Aires, Argentina
⁹ Laboratorio Atmósfera, Departamento de Investigaciones en Láseres y sus Aplicaciones, UNIDEF (CITEDEF-CONICET), Buenos Aires, Argentina
¹⁰ Observatorio Pierre Auger, Malargüe, Argentina
¹¹ Observatorio Pierre Auger and Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica, Malargüe, Argentina
¹² Facultad Regional Buenos Aires, Universidad Tecnológica Nacional, Buenos Aires, Argentina
¹³ University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA, Australia
¹⁴ Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB), Brussels, Belgium
¹⁵ Vrije Universiteit Brussels, Brussels, Belgium
¹⁶ Centro Brasileiro de Pesquisas Fisicas, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil
¹⁷ Centro Federal de Educação Tecnológica Celso Suckow da Fonseca, Petropolis, Brazil
¹⁸ Instituto Federal de Educação, Ciência e Tecnologia do Rio de Janeiro (IFRJ), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
¹⁹ Escola de Engenharia de Lorena, Universidade de São Paulo, Lorena, SP, Brazil
²⁰ Instituto de Física de São Carlos, Universidade de São Paulo, São Carlos, SP, Brazil
²¹ Instituto de Física, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brazil
²² Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP), IFGW, Campinas, SP, Brazil
²³ Universidade Estadual de Feira de Santana, Feira de Santana, Brazil
²⁴ Universidade Federal de Campina Grande, Centro de Ciencias e Tecnologia, Campina Grande, Brazil
²⁵ Universidade Federal do ABC, Santo André, SP, Brazil
²⁶ Universidade Federal do Paraná, Setor Palotina, Palotina, Brazil
²⁷ Instituto de Física, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil
²⁸ Universidad de Medellín, Medellín, Colombia
²⁹ Universidad Industrial de Santander, Bucaramanga, Colombia
³⁰ Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, Institute of Particle and Nuclear Physics, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic
³¹ Institute of Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague, Czech Republic
³² Palacky University, Olomouc, Czech Republic
³³ CNRS/IN2P3, IJCLab, Université Paris-Saclay, Orsay, France
³⁴ Laboratoire de Physique Nucléaire et de Hautes Energies (LPNHE), Sorbonne Université, Université de Paris, CNRS-IN2P3, Paris, France
³⁵ LPSC-IN2P3, CNRS, Grenoble Institute of Engineering Univ. Grenoble Alpes, Univ. Grenoble Alpes, 38000, Grenoble, France
³⁶ IJCLab, CNRS/IN2P3, Université Paris-Saclay, Orsay, France
³⁷ Department of Physics, Bergische Universität Wuppertal, Wuppertal, Germany
³⁸ Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Institute for Experimental Particle Physics, Karlsruhe, Germany
³⁹ Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Institut für Prozessdatenverarbeitung und Elektronik, Karlsruhe, Germany
⁴⁰ Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Institute for Astroparticle Physics, Karlsruhe, Germany
⁴¹ III. Physikalisches Institut A, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany
⁴² II. Institut für Theoretische Physik, Universität Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany
⁴³ Department Physik–Experimentelle Teilchenphysik, Universität Siegen, Siegen, Germany
⁴⁴ Gran Sasso Science Institute, L’Aquila, Italy
⁴⁵ INFN Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso, Assergi (L’Aquila), Italy
⁴⁶ INFN, Sezione di Catania, Catania, Italy
⁴⁷ INFN, Sezione di Lecce, Lecce, Italy
⁴⁸ INFN, Sezione di Milano, Milan, Italy
⁴⁹ INFN, Sezione di Napoli, Naples, Italy
⁵⁰ INFN, Sezione di Roma “Tor Vergata”, Rome, Italy
⁵¹ INFN, Sezione di Torino, Turin, Italy
⁵² Istituto di Astrofisica Spaziale e Fisica Cosmica di Palermo (INAF), Palermo, Italy
⁵³ Osservatorio Astrofisico di Torino (INAF), Turin, Italy
⁵⁴ Politecnico di Milano, Dipartimento di Scienze e Tecnologie Aerospaziali, Milan, Italy
⁵⁵ Dipartimento di Matematica e Fisica “E. De Giorgi”, Università del Salento, Lecce, Italy
⁵⁶ Dipartimento di Scienze Fisiche e Chimiche, Università dell’Aquila, L’Aquila, Italy
⁵⁷ Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia “Ettore Majorana“, Università di Catania, Catania, Italy
⁵⁸ Dipartimento di Fisica, Università di Milano, Milan, Italy
⁵⁹ Dipartimento di Fisica “Ettore Pancini”, Università di Napoli “Federico II”, Naples, Italy
⁶⁰ Dipartimento di Fisica e Chimica ”E. Segrè”, Università di Palermo, Palermo, Italy
⁶¹ Dipartimento di Fisica, Università di Roma “Tor Vergata”, Rome, Italy
⁶² Dipartimento di Fisica, Università Torino, Turin, Italy
⁶³ Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla, Puebla, Mexico
⁶⁴ Unidad Profesional Interdisciplinaria en Ingeniería y Tecnologías Avanzadas del Instituto Politécnico Nacional (UPIITA-IPN), Mexico, D.F., Mexico
⁶⁵ Universidad Autónoma de Chiapas, Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Chiapas, Mexico
⁶⁶ Universidad Michoacana de San Nicolás de Hidalgo, Morelia, Michoacán, Mexico
⁶⁷ Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico, D.F., Mexico
⁶⁸ Institute of Nuclear Physics PAN, Kraków, Poland
⁶⁹ Faculty of High-Energy Astrophysics, University of Łódź, Lodz, Poland
⁷⁰ Laboratório de Instrumentação e Física Experimental de Partículas–LIP, Instituto Superior Técnico–IST, Universidade de Lisboa–UL, Lisbon, Portugal
⁷¹ “Horia Hulubei” National Institute for Physics and Nuclear Engineering, Bucharest-Magurele, Romania
⁷² Institute of Space Science, Bucharest-Magurele, Romania
⁷³ Center for Astrophysics and Cosmology (CAC), University of Nova Gorica, Nova Gorica, Slovenia
⁷⁴ Experimental Particle Physics Department, J. Stefan Institute, Ljubljana, Slovenia
⁷⁵ Universidad de Granada and C.A.F.P.E., Granada, Spain
⁷⁶ Instituto Galego de Física de Altas Enerxías (IGFAE), Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, Santiago de Compostela, Spain
⁷⁷ IMAPP, Radboud University Nijmegen, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
⁷⁸ Nationaal Instituut voor Kernfysica en Hoge Energie Fysica (NIKHEF), Science Park, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
⁷⁹ Stichting Astronomisch Onderzoek in Nederland (ASTRON), Dwingeloo, The Netherlands
⁸⁰ Faculty of Science, Universiteit van Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
⁸¹ Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, USA
⁸² Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO, USA
⁸³ Department of Physics and Astronomy, Lehman College, City University of New York, Bronx, NY, USA
⁸⁴ Michigan Technological University, Houghton, MI, USA
⁸⁵ New York University, New York, NY, USA
⁸⁶ Enrico Fermi Institute, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA
⁸⁷ Department of Physics and Astronomy, Bartol Research Institute, University of Delaware, Newark, DE, USA
⁸⁸ Max-Planck-Institut für Radioastronomie, Bonn, Germany
⁸⁹ Kapteyn Institute, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands
⁹⁰ School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK
⁹¹ Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, Fermilab, Batavia, IL, USA
⁹² Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA
⁹³ Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, USA
⁹⁴ Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA, USA
⁹⁵ Graduate School of Science, Osaka Metropolitan University, Osaka, Japan
⁹⁶ Institut Universitaire de France (IUF), Paris, France
⁹⁷ The Pierre Auger Observatory, Av. San Martín Norte 306, 5613, Malargüe, Mendoza, Argentina

^a spokespersons@auger.org

Received: 17 September 2024
Accepted: 30 October 2024
Published online: 24 January 2025

Abstract

The Pierre Auger Collaboration has embraced the concept of open access to their research data since its foundation, with the aim of giving access to the widest possible community. A gradual process of release began as early as 2007 when 1% of the cosmic-ray data was made public, along with 100% of the space-weather information. In February 2021, a portal was released containing 10% of cosmic-ray data collected by the Pierre Auger Observatory from 2004 to 2018, during the first phase of operation of the Observatory. The Open Data Portal includes detailed documentation about the detection and reconstruction procedures, analysis codes that can be easily used and modified and, additionally, visualization tools. Since then, the Portal has been updated and extended. In 2023, a catalog of the highest-energy cosmic-ray events examined in depth has been included. A specific section dedicated to educational use has been developed with the expectation that these data will be explored by a wide and diverse community, including professional and citizen scientists, and used for educational and outreach initiatives. This paper describes the context, the spirit, and the technical implementation of the release of data by the largest cosmic-ray detector ever built and anticipates its future developments.