First Buried Muon Counter Prototype at the Auger Observatory

I. SIDELNIK; B. WUNDHEILER; E. COLOMBO; ALBERTO ETCHEGOYEN; A. FERRERO; M. PLATINO; O. WAINBERG

La Plata, Provincia de Buenos Aires, Argentina

Congreso; First La Plata International School: Compact Objects and their emissions; 2008

AMIGA (Auger Muons and Inll for the Ground Array) constitutes an enhancement for the Pierre Auger Observatory. It consists of a denser array of surface detectors and muon counters whose objective is both to extend the detection range down to 1017 eV and to help towards mass composition determination. The latter is to be achieved with muon counters since the shower muon content is one of the best parameter for particle type identication. In this work, we present the study of a muon counter prototype. The prototype was buried 3 m deep in an effort to avoid signal contamination from the shower electromagnetic component. We study the performance of the detector before and after burying it with its associated electronic components. The detector validation is performed from signal analysis of charged particles traversing the counter.