Processing of the Signals from the Surface Detectors of the Pierre Auger Observatory

Abstract

The detectors of the surface array of the Pierre Auger Observatory are water Cherenkov tanks. The signals from each tank are read out using three photomultipliers. The energy of the primary particle is inferred from signal densities and requires good linearity of the PMTs and a large dynamic range. The absolute time of arrival of the shower front at each tank is obtained from the Global Positioning System (GPS) with a resolution of about 10 ns, ensuring an accurate primary angular reconstruction. Additionally, it is intended to use the rise time and shape of the signals to constrain the nature of the primary particle: this sets further requirements on the signal processing. In this paper, the main features of the signal processing associated with the surface detector will be presented and its performance will be discussed in the context of the extraction of shower parameters.