Observations of the longitudinal development of extensive air showers with the surface detectors of the Pierre Auger Observatory

THE PIERRE AUGER COLLABORATION.; S. J. SCIUTTO

Conferencia; 33rd International Cosmic Ray Conference; 2013

Using the timing information from the FADC traces of surface detectors far from the shower coreit is possible to reconstruct a Muon Production Depth distribution (MPD) to provide information about thelongitudinal development of the muon component of Extensive Air Showers (EAS). We assess the quality ofthe MPD reconstruction for zenith angles around 60! and different energies of the primary particle. From thesedistributions we define Xμmax, the depth, along the shower axis where the number of muons reaches maximum,and explore its potential as a useful observable to infer the mass composition of cosmic rays.