Measurement of muon atmospheric production depths with the Pierre Auger Observatory

THE PIERRE AUGER COLLABORATION (AUTOR 434 DE 474); M. TUEROS (COAUTOR)

Beijing

Conferencia; 32nd International Cosmic Ray Conference 2011; 2011

Institute of High Energy Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences

The surface detector array of the Pierre Auger Observatory provides information about the longitudinal development of the hadronic component of extensive air showers in an indirect way. In this contribution we show that it is possible to reconstruct the Muon Production Depth distribution (MPD) using the FADC traces of surface detectors far from the shower core. We characterize the goodness of this reconstruction for zenith angles around 60◦ and different energies of the primary particle. From the MPDs we define Xµ max as the depth, along the shower axis, where the number of muons produced reaches a maximum. We explore the potentiality of Xµ max as a sensitive parameter to determine the mass composition of cosmic rays.