AMIGA at the Pierre Auger Observatory: The interface and control electronics of the ␣rst prototype muon counters

M. VIDELA; M. PLATINO; B. GARCIA; A. ALMELA; G. DE LA VEGA; A. LUCERO; O. WAINBERG; F. SANCHEZ; D. YELOS

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

ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV

Lugar: Amsterdam; Año: 2015

0168-9002

AMIGA is an enhancement of the Pierre Auger Observatory. The main goals of AMIGA are to extend the full ef␣ciency range to lower energies of the Observatory and to measure the muon content of extensive air showers. Currently, it consists of 61 detector pairs, each one composed of a surface water-Cherenkov detector and a buried muon counter. Prototypes of the muon counter ? buried at a depth of 2.25 m ? were installed at each vertex of a hexagon and at its center with 750 m spacing. Each prototype has a detection area of 10 m2 segmented in 64 scintillation strips and coupled to a multi-anode PMT through optical ␣bers. The electronic systems of these prototypes are accessible via a service tube. An electronics interface and control board were designed to extract the data from the counter and to provide a remote control of the system. This article presents the design of the interface and control board and the results and performance during the ␣rst AMIGA acquisition period in 2012.