Performance of the 433 m surface array of the Pierre Auger Observatory

Abstract

The Pierre Auger Observatory, located in western Argentina, is the world’s largest cosmic-ray observatory. While it was originally built to study the cosmic-ray flux above 1018.5 eV, several enhancements have reduced this energy threshold. One such enhancement is a surface array composed of a triangular grid of 19 water-Cherenkov detectors separated by 433 m (SD-433) to explore the energies down to about 1016 eV. We are developing two research lines employing the SD-433. Firstly, we will measure the energy spectrum in a region where previous experiments have shown evidence of the second knee. Secondly, we will search for ultra-high energy photons to study PeV cosmic-ray sources residing in the Galactic center. In this work, we introduce the SD-433 and we show that it is fully efficient above 5×1016 eV for hadronic primaries with θ < 45°. Using seven years of data, we present the parametrization of the lateral distribution function of measured signals. Finally, we show that an angular resolution of 1.8° (0.5°) can be attained at the lowest (highest) primary energies. Our study lays the goundmark for measurements in the energy range above 1016 eV by utilizing the SD-433 and thus expanding the scientific output of the Auger surface detector.