Related papers: Performance of the Pierre Auger Observatory Surfac…
Next-generation air-shower detectors, such as the Global Cosmic Ray Observatory (GCOS) and the Probing Extreme PeVatron Sources (PEPS) experiment, are considering water-Cherenkov detectors as a base design. A key factor in improving the…
The Pierre Auger Observatory has already collected more ultra high energy cosmic ray data than all the previous experiments. With an hybrid detection technique, it can provide coherent results on the flux, energy spectrum and arrival…
The Pierre Auger Observatory, at present the largest cosmic-ray observatory ever built, is instrumented with a ground array of 1600 water-Cherenkov detectors, known as the Surface Detector (SD). The SD samples the secondary particle content…
With the knowledge and statistical precision derived from two decades of measurement, the Pierre Auger Observatory has significantly deepened our understanding of ultra-high-energy cosmic rays while unearthing an increasingly complex…
The Pierre Auger Observatory has been designed to investigate the most energetic particles known, the ultra high energy cosmic rays. The observatory, covering an area of 3000 km^2, combines two different detection techniques to study the…
The goal of the Pierre Auger Observatory is to determine the still unknown nature and origin of ultra-high energy cosmic rays. The study of these elusive particles probes astrophysical sites of particle acceleration as well as fundamental…
We present a detailed simulation of the performance of water Cerenkov detectors suitable for use in the Pierre Auger Observatory. Using {\sc geant4}, a flexible object-oriented simulation program, including all known physics processes, has…
The Pierre Auger Observatory has the capability of detecting neutrino-induced extensive air showers by searching for very inclined showers with a significant electromagnetic component. In order to study the detector response of the surface…
We determine the instantaneous aperture and integrated exposure of the surface detector of the Pierre Auger Observatory, taking into account the trigger efficiency as a function of the energy, arrival direction (with zenith angle lower than…
Ultra-high-energy cosmic rays (UHECR), of energy >10 EeV, arrive at the Earth regularly, but their sources, acceleration mechanisms, details of propagation through the universe, and particle composition remain mysteries. In addition, their…
The Pierre Auger Observatory is the largest observatory of high-energy cosmic rays. It is located in Argentina and has been taking data since January 2004. Extensive air showers initiated by cosmic rays are measured by the hybrid detector,…
The water-Cherenkov tanks of the Pierre Auger Observatory can detect particles at all zenith angles and are therefore well-suited for the study of inclined and horizontal air showers (60 - 90 degrees). Such showers are characterised by a…
Cosmic rays arriving at Earth collide with the upper parts of the atmosphere, thereby inducing extensive air showers. When secondary particles from the cascade arrive at the ground, they are measured by surface detector arrays. We describe…
The Pierre Auger Observatory has recently undergone a major upgrade, called AugerPrime, tailored to answer the current most pressing questions in the ultra-high-energy cosmic ray (UHECR) detection. The AugerPrime upgrade consists of the…
Data collected so far by the Pierre Auger Observatory have enabled major advances in ultra-high energy cosmic ray physics and demonstrated that improved determination of masses of primary cosmic-ray particles, preferably on an…
The Pierre Auger Observatory infers the chemical composition of ultra-high-energy cosmic rays through two independent detection techniques. The Fluorescence Detector (FD) measures the longitudinal profile of high energy air showers and can…
In this contribution, we present the status and first data from the Radio Detector (RD) at the Pierre Auger Observatory, consisting of $1660$ radio antennas deployed across the $3000$ km$^2$ surface detector array. These antennas measure…
We report on the observations of cosmic rays with energies > 1.0 EeV from Jan 2004 to April 2009 by the Pierre Auger Observatory. During this period the Observatory has grown from about 300 surface detectors to about 1600 upon its…
The world's largest cosmic-ray detector is nearing completion in the remote Pampas of Argentina. This instrument measures extensive air-showers with energies from ${10^{18}-10^{20}}$ eV and beyond. A surface detector array of area 3000…
The air fluorescence detectors (FDs) of the Pierre Auger Observatory are vital for the determination of the air shower energy scale. To compensate for variations in atmospheric conditions that affect the energy measurement, the Observatory…