UHE neutrino signatures in the surface detector of the Pierre Auger Observatory

PIERRE AUGER COLLABORATION (J. ABRAHAM, ... , A. MARIAZZI, ET AL)

Lodz, Polonia

Conferencia; 31th International Cosmic Ray Conference; 2009

The Pierre Auger Observatory has thecapability of detecting ultra-high energy neutrinos.The method adopted is to search for very inclinedyoung showers. The properties of such showers thatstart deep in the atmosphere are very different atground level from those of showers initiated in theupper atmosphere by protons or nuclei. The neutrinoevents would have a significant electromagnetic componentleading to a broad time structure of detectedsignals in contrast to nucleonic-induced showers. Inthis paper we present several observables that arebeing used to identify neutrino candidates and showthat the configuration of the surface detectors of theAuger Observatory has a satisfactory discriminationpower against the larger background of nucleonicshowers over a broad angular range.