Trigger and Aperture of the Surface Detector Array of the Pierre Auger
Observatory
ArXiv 1111.6764 (2011)
Authors:
J Abraham, P Abreu, M Aglietta, C Aguirre, EJ Ahn, D Allard, I Allekotte, J Allen, J Alvarez-Muñiz, M Ambrosio, L Anchordoqui, S Andringa, A Anzalone, C Aramo, E Arganda, S Argirò, K Arisaka, F Arneodo, F Arqueros, T Asch, H Asorey, P Assis, J Aublin, M Ave, G Avila, T Bäcker, D Badagnani, KB Barber, AF Barbosa, SLC Barroso, B Baughman, P Bauleo, JJ Beatty, T Beau, BR Becker, KH Becker, A Bellétoile, JA Bellido, S BenZvi, C Berat, P Bernardini, X Bertou, PL Biermann, P Billoir, O Blanch-Bigas, F Blanco, C Bleve, H Blümer, M Boháčová, D Boncioli, C Bonifazi, R Bonino, N Borodai, J Brack, P Brogueira, WC Brown, R Bruijn, P Buchholz, A Bueno, RE Burton, NG Busca, KS Caballero-Mora, L Caramete, R Caruso, W Carvalho, A Castellina, O Catalano, L Cazon, R Cester, J Chauvin, A Chiavassa, JA Chinellato, A Chou, J Chudoba, J Chye, RW Clay, E Colombo, R Conceição, B Connolly, F Contreras, J Coppens, A Cordier, U Cotti, S Coutu, CE Covault, A Creusot, A Criss, J Cronin, A Curutiu, S Dagoret-Campagne, R Dallier, K Daumiller, BR Dawson, RM de Almeida, M De Domenico, C De Donato, SJ de Jong, G De La Vega, WJM de Mello Junior, JRT de Mello Neto, I De Mitri, V de Souza, KD de Vries, G Decerprit, L del Peral, O Deligny, A Della Selva, C Delle Fratte, H Dembinski, C Di Giulio, JC Diaz, PN Diep, C Dobrigkeit, JC D'Olivo, PN Dong, A Dorofeev, JC dos Anjos, MT Dova, D D'Urso, I Dutan, MA DuVernois, R Engel, M Erdmann, CO Escobar, A Etchegoyen, P Facal San Luis, H Falcke, G Farrar, AC Fauth, N Fazzini, F Ferrer, A Ferrero, B Fick, A Filevich, A Filipčič, I Fleck, S Fliescher, CE Fracchiolla, ED Fraenkel, W Fulgione, RF Gamarra, S Gambetta, B García, D García Gámez, D Garcia-Pinto, X Garrido, G Gelmini, H Gemmeke, PL Ghia, U Giaccari, M Giller, H Glass, LM Goggin, MS Gold, G Golup, F Gomez Albarracin, M Gómez Berisso, P Gonçalves, M Gonçalves do Amaral, D Gonzalez, JG Gonzalez, D Góra, A Gorgi, P Gouffon, SR Gozzini, E Grashorn, S Grebe, M Grigat, AF Grillo, Y Guardincerri, F Guarino, GP Guedes, J Gutiérrez, JD Hague, V Halenka, P Hansen, D Harari, S Harmsma, JL Harton, A Haungs, MD Healy, T Hebbeker, G Hebrero, D Heck, C Hojvat, VC Holmes, P Homola, JR Hörandel, A Horneffer, M Hrabovský, T Huege, M Hussain, M Iarlori, A Insolia, F Ionita, A Italiano, S Jiraskova, M Kaducak, KH Kampert, T Karova, P Kasper, B Kégl, B Keilhauer, E Kemp, RM Kieckhafer, HO Klages, M Kleifges, J Kleinfeller, R Knapik, J Knapp, D-H Koang, A Krieger, O Krömer, D Kruppke-Hansen, F Kuehn, D Kuempel, K Kulbartz, N Kunka, A Kusenko, G La Rosa, C Lachaud, BL Lago, P Lautridou, MSAB Leão, D Lebrun, P Lebrun, J Lee, MA Leigui de Oliveira, A Lemiere, A Letessier-Selvon, M Leuthold, I Lhenry-Yvon, R López, A Lopez Agüera, K Louedec, J Lozano Bahilo, A Lucero, H Lyberis, MC Maccarone, C Macolino, S Maldera, D Mandat, P Mantsch, AG Mariazzi, IC Maris, HR Marquez Falcon, D Martello, O Martínez Bravo, HJ Mathes, J Matthews, JAJ Matthews, G Matthiae, D Maurizio, PO Mazur, M McEwen, RR McNeil, G Medina-Tanco, M Melissas, D Melo, E Menichetti, A Menshikov, R Meyhandan, MI Micheletti, G Miele, W Miller, L Miramonti, S Mollerach, M Monasor, D Monnier Ragaigne, F Montanet, B Morales, C Morello, JC Moreno, C Morris, M Mostafá, CA Moura, S Mueller, MA Muller, R Mussa, G Navarra, JL Navarro, S Navas, P Necesal, L Nellen, C Newman-Holmes, D Newton, PT Nhung, N Nierstenhoefer, D Nitz, D Nosek, L Nožka, M Nyklicek, J Oehlschläger, A Olinto, P Oliva, VM Olmos-Gilbaja, M Ortiz, N Pacheco, D Pakk Selmi-Dei, M Palatka, J Pallotta, G Parente, E Parizot, S Parlati, S Pastor, M Patel, T Paul, V Pavlidou, K Payet, M Pech, J Pȩkala, IM Pepe, L Perrone, R Pesce, E Petermann, S Petrera, P Petrinca, A Petrolini, Y Petrov, J Petrovic, C Pfendner, R Piegaia, T Pierog, M Pimenta, T Pinto, V Pirronello, O Pisanti, M Platino, J Pochon, VH Ponce, M Pontz, P Privitera, M Prouza, EJ Quel, J Rautenberg, O Ravel, D Ravignani, A Redondo, B Revenu, FAS Rezende, J Ridky, S Riggi, M Risse, C Rivière, V Rizi, C Robledo, G Rodriguez, J Rodriguez Martino, J Rodriguez Rojo, I Rodriguez-Cabo, MD Rodríguez-Frías, G Ros, J Rosado, T Rossler, M Roth, B Rouillé-d'Orfeuil, E Roulet, AC Rovero, F Salamida, H Salazar, G Salina, F Sánchez, M Santander, CE Santo, EM Santos, F Sarazin, S Sarkar, R Sato, N Scharf, V Scherini, H Schieler, P Schiffer, A Schmidt, F Schmidt, T Schmidt, O Scholten, H Schoorlemmer, J Schovancova, P Schovánek, F Schroeder, S Schulte, F Schüssler, D Schuster, SJ Sciutto, M Scuderi, A Segreto, D Semikoz, M Settimo, RC Shellard, I Sidelnik, BB Siffert, G Sigl, A Śmiałkowski, R Šmída, BE Smith, GR Snow, P Sommers, J Sorokin, H Spinka, R Squartini, E Strazzeri, A Stutz, F Suarez, T Suomijärvi, AD Supanitsky, MS Sutherland, J Swain, Z Szadkowski, A Tamashiro, A Tamburro, T Tarutina, O Taşcău, R Tcaciuc, D Tcherniakhovski, D Tegolo, NT Thao, D Thomas, R Ticona, J Tiffenberg, C Timmermans, W Tkaczyk, CJ Todero Peixoto, B Tomé, A Tonachini, I Torres, P Travnicek, DB Tridapalli, G Tristram, E Trovato, M Tueros, R Ulrich, M Unger, M Urban, JF Valdés Galicia, I Valiño, L Valore, AM van den Berg, JR Vázquez, RA Vázquez, D Veberič, A Velarde, T Venters, V Verzi, M Videla, L Villaseñor, S Vorobiov, L Voyvodic, H Wahlberg, P Wahrlich, O Wainberg, D Warner, AA Watson, S Westerhoff, BJ Whelan, G Wieczorek, L Wiencke, B Wilczyńska, H Wilczyński, C Wileman, MG Winnick, H Wu, B Wundheiler, T Yamamoto, P Younk, G Yuan, A Yushkov, E Zas, D Zavrtanik, M Zavrtanik, I Zaw, A Zepeda, M Ziolkowski
Abstract:
The surface detector array of the Pierre Auger Observatory consists of 1600
water-Cherenkov detectors, for the study of extensive air showers (EAS)
generated by ultra-high-energy cosmic rays. We describe the trigger hierarchy,
from the identification of candidate showers at the level of a single detector,
amongst a large background (mainly random single cosmic ray muons), up to the
selection of real events and the rejection of random coincidences. Such trigger
makes the surface detector array fully efficient for the detection of EAS with
energy above $3\times 10^{18}$ eV, for all zenith angles between 0$^\circ$ and
60$^\circ$, independently of the position of the impact point and of the mass
of the primary particle. In these range of energies and angles, the exposure of
the surface array can be determined purely on the basis of the geometrical
acceptance.
