• Ph.D., High-energy particle physics
  Instituto Balseiro, Argentina
• M.S., Nuclear engineering
  Instituto Balseiro, Argentina

Research Interests:

Current research in ultra high energy cosmic rays. The study of the highest energy cosmic rays is one of the multi-messenger investigations of the extreme universe. By multi-messenger I mean experiments sensitive to a variety of cosmic ray primaries, including protons, nuclei, photons, and neutrinos. By extreme I refer to the fact that cosmic rays with energies above 10¹⁹ eV likely originate in remote parts of the universe, including regions near ultra-massive black holes, GRBs, or topological defects. From the view point of high energy physics, the highest energy cosmic rays provide unique opportunities to study acceleration mechanisms to extreme particle energies as well as center of mass energies substantially higher than those at the (future) LHC.

Research project: The Pierre Auger Observatory. This is a hybrid experiment that includes surface and fluorescence detectors of the extensive air showers produced when cosmic rays enter the atmosphere. I have focused mostly on the fluorescence detectors. As examples I actively participate in the optical calibration systems for the four fluorescence detectors, and for the main atmospheric monitoring facilities. These responsibilities are critical for the correct analysis of the fluorescence data, and are central to the issue of the GZK cutoff.

I work on the analysis of the Auger hybrid data. This extends the lower energy range of the Auger experiment (to approx. 10¹⁷ eV) and results in events with superior directional, shower energy, and compositional information. As the flux of cosmic rays rises dramatically with decreasing energy, this analysis results in a large sample of events. Results of the hybrid reconstruction I have developed contribute to many important Auger measurements. For example, point-source searches from the Galactic Center, and setting limits to photon primaries.

Selected Recent Publications

(i) related to Auger
• ``The hybrid performance of the Pierre Auger Observatory,''
  M. A. Mostafa [Pierre Auger Collaboration], FERMILAB-CONF-05-269-E-TD
  Presented at 29th International Cosmic Ray Conference, Pune, India, 3-11 Aug 2005
• ``The central laser facility at the Pierre Auger observatory,''
  F. Arqueros et al. [Pierre Auger Collaboration], arXiv:astro-ph/0507334
• ``The LIDAR systems for atmospheric monitoring in Auger,''
  R. Mussa et al., Nucl. Instrum. Meth. A 518, 183 (2004)
• ``Properties and performance of the prototype instrument for the Pierre Auger Observatory,''
  J. Abraham et al. [Pierre Auger Collaboration], Nucl. Instrum. Meth. A 523, 50 (2004)
• ``Atmospheric monitoring for the Pierre Auger fluorescence detector,''
  M. A. Mostafa [Pierre Auger Collaboration], arXiv:astro-ph/0308442

(ii) other significant publications, not related to Auger

• ``The upgraded D0 detector,''
  V. M. Abazov et al. [D0 Collaboration], arXiv:physics/0507191
• ``Measurement of the ratio of differential cross sections for W and Z boson production as a function of transverse momentum in proton-antiproton collisions at sqrt(s)=1.8 TeV,"
  V. M. Abazov et al. [D0 Collaboration], Phys. Lett. B 517, 299 (2001), [arXiv:hep-ex/0107012]
• ``Differential cross-section for W boson production as a function of transverse momentum,''
  M. Mostafa [D0 Collaboration], Int. J. Mod. Phys. A 16S1A, 322 (2001)
• ``Differential cross section for W boson production as a function of transverse momentum in p anti-p collisions at s**(1/2) = 1.8 TeV,''
  B. Abbott et al. [D0 Collaboration], Phys. Lett. B 513, 292 (2001) [arXiv:hep-ex/0010026]
• ``Measurement of the angular distribution of electrons from W to e + nu decays observed in p anti-p collisions at s**(1/2) = 1.8 TeV,''
  B. Abbott et al. [D0 Collaboration], Phys. Rev. D 63, 072001 (2001) [arXiv:hep-ex/0009034]

The full list of publications (over 100 papers) is available on request.