Properties and performance of the prototype instrument for the Pierre Auger Observatory.

J. ABRAHAM; ...; S. J. SCIUTTO; Q. ZHU

NUCLEAR INSTRUMENTS AND METHODS IN PHYSICS RESEARCH A - ACCELERATORS, SPECTROMETERS, DETECTORS AND ASSOCIATED EQUIPAMENT

Año: 2004 vol. 523 p. 50 - 95

0168-9002

Construction oft he first stage of the Pierre Auger Observatory has begun. The aim of the Observatory is to collect unprecedented information about cosmic rays above 1018 eV: The first phase ofth e project, the construction and operation of a prototype system, known as the engineering array, has now been completed. It has allowed all of the sub-systems thatwill be used in the full instrument to be tested under field conditions. In this paper, the properties and performance of these sub-systems are described and their success illustrated with descriptions ofso me of the events recorded thus far.