Performance of the LAGO Water Cherenkov detector in Chiapas, Mexico

Abstract

The Latin American Giant Observatory (LAGO) is an observatory extended along Latin America, with the capability to detect the galactic cosmic rays background and to develop studies for space weather and atmospheric radiation at ground level. It consists of a network of several Water Cherenkov Detectors (WCD) located at institutions in different countries along the American Continent (from Mexico down to the Antarctic region). One of the main goals of LAGO is to encourage and support the development of experimental basic research in Latin America, mainly with low cost equipment. The astroparticle physics group of Facultad de Ciencias en Física y Matemáticas (FCFM) at Universidad Autónoma de Chiapas (UNACH), as part of the LAGO project, is in the installation final phase of a WCD at the FCFM campus and it is planning to set up another one at the top of Tacaná volcano. In this paper, we describe the scientific purpose of the experiment, details of the detector characteristics, numerical simulations carried out to estimate its sensitivity and an electronic novelty used for the data acquisition system.