Studies on the response of a water-Cherenkov detector of the Pierre Auger Observatory to atmospheric muons using an RPC hodoscope
Creators: name: The Pierre Auger Collaboration
name: Aab, A.
name: Abreu, P.
name: Aglietta, M.
name: Albury, J. M.
name: Allekotte, I.
name: Almela, A.
name: Castillo, J. Alvarez
name: Alvarez-Muñiz, J.
name: Batista, R. Alves
name: Anastasi, G. A.
name: Anchordoqui, L.
name: Andrada, B.
name: Andringa, S.
name: Aramo, C.
name: Ferreira, P. R. Araújo
name: Asorey, H.
name: Assis, P.
name: Avila, G.
name: Badescu, A. M.
name: Bakalova, A.
name: Balaceanu, A.
name: Barbato, F.
name: Luz, R. J. Barreira
name: Becker, K. H.
name: Bellido, J. A.
name: Berat, C.
name: Bertaina, M. E.
name: Bertou, X.
name: Biermann, P. L.
name: Bister, T.
name: Biteau, J.
name: Blanco, A.
name: Blazek, J.
name: Bleve, C.
name: Boháčová, M.
name: Boncioli, D.
name: Bonifazi, C.
name: Arbeletche, L. Bonneau
name: Borodai, N.
name: Botti, A. M.
name: Brack, J.
name: Bretz, T.
name: Briechle, F. L.
name: Buchholz, P.
name: Bueno, A.
name: Buitink, S.
name: Buscemi, M.
name: Caballero-Mora, K. S.
name: Caccianiga, L.
name: Calcagni, L.
name: Cancio, A.
name: Canfora, F.
name: Caracas, I.
name: Carceller, J. M.
name: Caruso, R.
name: Castellina, A.
name: Catalani, F.
name: Cataldi, G.
name: Cazon, L.
name: Cerda, M.
name: Chinellato, J. A.
name: Choi, K.
name: Chudoba, J.
name: Chytka, L.
name: Clay, R. W.
name: Cerutti, A. C. Cobos
name: Colalillo, R.
name: Coleman, A.
name: Coluccia, M. R.
name: Conceição, R.
name: Condorelli, A.
name: Consolati, G.
name: Contreras, F.
name: Convenga, F.
name: Covault, C. E.
name: Dasso, S.
name: Daumiller, K.
name: Dawson, B. R.
name: Day, J. A.
name: de Almeida, R. M.
name: de Jesús, J.
name: de Jong, S. J.
name: De Mauro, G.
name: Neto, J. R. T. de Mello
name: De Mitri, I.
name: de Oliveira, J.
name: Franco, D. de Oliveira
name: de Souza, V.
name: De Vito, E.
name: Debatin, J.
name: del Río, M.
name: Deligny, O.
name: Dhital, N.
name: Di Matteo, A.
name: Castro, M. L. Díaz
name: Dobrigkeit, C.
name: D'Olivo, J. C.
name: Dorosti, Q.
name: Anjos, R. C. dos
name: Dova, M. T.
name: Ebr, J.
name: Engel, R.
name: Epicoco, I.
name: Erdmann, M.
name: Escobar, C. O.
name: Etchegoyen, A.
name: Falcke, H.
name: Farmer, J.
name: Farrar, G.
name: Fauth, A. C.
name: Fazzini, N.
name: Feldbusch, F.
name: Fenu, F.
name: Fick, B.
name: Figueira, J. M.
name: Filipčič, A.
name: Fodran, T.
name: Freire, M. M.
name: Fujii, T.
name: Fuster, A.
name: Galea, C.
name: Galelli, C.
name: García, B.
name: Vegas, A. L. Garcia
name: Gemmeke, H.
name: Gesualdi, F.
name: Gherghel-Lascu, A.
name: Ghia, P. L.
name: Giaccari, U.
name: Giammarchi, M.
name: Giller, M.
name: Glombitza, J.
name: Gobbi, F.
name: Gollan, F.
name: Golup, G.
name: Berisso, M. Gómez
name: Vitale, P. F. Gómez
name: Gongora, J. P.
name: González, N.
name: Goos, I.
name: Góra, D.
name: Gorgi, A.
name: Gottowik, M.
name: Grubb, T. D.
name: Guarino, F.
name: Guedes, G. P.
name: Guido, E.
name: Hahn, S.
name: Halliday, R.
name: Hampel, M. R.
name: Hansen, P.
name: Harari, D.
name: Harvey, V. M.
name: Haungs, A.
name: Hebbeker, T.
name: Heck, D.
name: Hill, G. C.
name: Hojvat, C.
name: Hörandel, J. R.
name: Horvath, P.
name: Hrabovský, M.
name: Huege, T.
name: Hulsman, J.
name: Insolia, A.
name: Isar, P. G.
name: Johnsen, J. A.
name: Jurysek, J.
name: Kääpä, A.
name: Kampert, K. H.
name: Keilhauer, B.
name: Kemp, J.
name: Klages, H. O.
name: Kleifges, M.
name: Kleinfeller, J.
name: Köpke, M.
name: Mezek, G. Kukec
name: Lago, B. L.
name: LaHurd, D.
name: Lang, R. G.
name: de Oliveira, M. A. Leigui
name: Lenok, V.
name: Letessier-Selvon, A.
name: Lhenry-Yvon, I.
name: Presti, D. Lo
name: Lopes, L.
name: López, R.
name: Lorek, R.
name: Luce, Q.
name: Lucero, A.
name: Payeras, A. Machado
name: Malacari, M.
name: Mancarella, G.
name: Mandat, D.
name: Manning, B. C.
name: Manshanden, J.
name: Mantsch, P.
name: Marafico, S.
name: Mariazzi, A. G.
name: Mariş, I. C.
name: Marsella, G.
name: Martello, D.
name: Martinez, H.
name: Bravo, O. Martínez
name: Mastrodicasa, M.
name: Mathes, H. J.
name: Matthews, J.
name: Matthiae, G.
name: Mayotte, E.
name: Mazur, P. O.
name: Medina-Tanco, G.
name: Melo, D.
name: Menshikov, A.
name: Merenda, K. -D.
name: Michal, S.
name: Micheletti, M. I.
name: Miramonti, L.
name: Mockler, D.
name: Mollerach, S.
name: Montanet, F.
name: Morello, C.
name: Mostafá, M.
name: Müller, A. L.
name: Muller, M. A.
name: Mulrey, K.
name: Mussa, R.
name: Muzio, M.
name: Namasaka, W. M.
name: Nellen, L.
name: Niculescu-Oglinzanu, M.
name: Niechciol, M.
name: Nitz, D.
name: Nosek, D.
name: Novotny, V.
name: Nožka, L.
name: Nucita, A
name: Núñez, L. A.
name: Palatka, M.
name: Pallotta, J.
name: Panetta, M. P.
name: Papenbreer, P.
name: Parente, G.
name: Parra, A.
name: Pech, M.
name: Pedreira, F.
name: Pękala, J.
name: Pelayo, R.
name: Peña-Rodriguez, J.
name: Armand, J. Perez
name: Perlin, M.
name: Perrone, L.
name: Peters, C.
name: Petrera, S.
name: Pierog, T.
name: Pimenta, M.
name: Pirronello, V.
name: Platino, M.
name: Pont, B.
name: Pothast, M.
name: Privitera, P.
name: Prouza, M.
name: Puyleart, A.
name: Querchfeld, S.
name: Rautenberg, J.
name: Ravignani, D.
name: Reininghaus, M.
name: Ridky, J.
name: Riehn, F.
name: Risse, M.
name: Ristori, P.
name: Rizi, V.
name: de Carvalho, W. Rodrigues
name: Rojo, J. Rodriguez
name: Roncoroni, M. J.
name: Roth, M.
name: Roulet, E.
name: Rovero, A. C.
name: Ruehl, P.
name: Saffi, S. J.
name: Saftoiu, A.
name: Salamida, F.
name: Salazar, H.
name: Salina, G.
name: Gomez, J. D. Sanabria
name: Sánchez, F.
name: Santos, E. M.
name: Santos, E.
name: Sarazin, F.
name: Sarmento, R.
name: Sarmiento-Cano, C.
name: Sato, R.
name: Savina, P.
name: Schäfer, C.
name: Scherini, V.
name: Schieler, H.
name: Schimassek, M.
name: Schimp, M.
name: Schlüter, F.
name: Schmidt, D.
name: Scholten, O.
name: Schovánek, P.
name: Schröder, F. G.
name: Schröder, S.
name: Sciutto, S. J.
name: Scornavacche, M.
name: Shellard, R. C.
name: Sigl, G.
name: Silli, G.
name: Sima, O.
name: Šmída, R.
name: Sommers, P.
name: Soriano, J. F.
name: Souchard, J.
name: Squartini, R.
name: Stadelmaier, M.
name: Stanca, D.
name: Stanič, S.
name: Stasielak, J.
name: Stassi, P.
name: Streich, A.
name: Suárez-Durán, M.
name: Sudholz, T.
name: Suomijärvi, T.
name: Supanitsky, A. D.
name: Šupík, J.
name: Szadkowski, Z.
name: Taboada, A.
name: Tapia, A.
name: Timmermans, C.
name: Tkachenko, O.
name: Tobiska, P.
name: Peixoto, C. J. Todero
name: Tomé, B.
name: Elipe, G. Torralba
name: Travaini, A.
name: Travnicek, P.
name: Trimarelli, C.
name: Trini, M.
name: Tueros, M.
name: Ulrich, R.
name: Unger, M.
name: Urban, M.
name: Vaclavek, L.
name: Vacula, M.
name: Galicia, J. F. Valdés
name: Valiño, I.
name: Valore, L.
name: van Vliet, A.
name: Varela, E.
name: Cárdenas, B. Vargas
name: Vásquez-Ramírez, A.
name: Veberič, D.
name: Ventura, C.
name: Quispe, I. D. Vergara
name: Verzi, V.
name: Vicha, J.
name: Villaseñor, L.
name: Vink, J.
name: Vorobiov, S.
name: Wahlberg, H.
name: Watson, A. A.
name: Weber, M.
name: Weindl, A.
name: Wiencke, L.
name: Wilczyński, H.
name: Winchen, T.
name: Wirtz, M.
name: Wittkowski, D.
name: Wundheiler, B.
name: Yushkov, A.
name: Zapparrata, O.
name: Zas, E.
name: Zavrtanik, D.
name: Zavrtanik, M.
name: Zehrer, L.
name: Zepeda, A.
name: Ziolkowski, M.
name: Zuccarello, F.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2020
Subjects: subject: Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics (astro-ph.IM)
subject: Instrumentation and Detectors (physics.ins-det)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: Extensive air showers, originating from ultra-high energy cosmic rays, have been successfully measured through the use of arrays of water-Cherenkov detectors (WCDs). Sophisticated analyses exploiting WCD data have made it possible to demonstrate that shower simulations, based on different hadronic-interaction models, cannot reproduce the observed number of muons at the ground. The accurate knowledge of the WCD response to muons is paramount in establishing the exact level of this discrepancy. In this work, we report on a study of the response of a WCD of the Pierre Auger Observatory to atmospheric muons performed with a hodoscope made of resistive plate chambers (RPCs), enabling us to select and reconstruct nearly 600 thousand single muon trajectories with zenith angles ranging from 0$^\circ$ to 55$^\circ$. Comparison of distributions of key observables between the hodoscope data and the predictions of dedicated simulations allows us to demonstrate the accuracy of the latter at a level of 2%. As the WCD calibration is based on its response to atmospheric muons, the hodoscope data are also exploited to show the long-term stability of the procedure.
description: Published version, 25 pages, 9 figures