Testing the surface detector simulation for the Pierre Auger Observatory

Understand

The building block of the surface detector of the Pierre Auger Observatory is a water Cherenkov tank.

• The response to shower particles is simulated using a dedicated program based on GEANT4.
• To check the simulation chain, we compare the simulated signals produced by cosmic muons at various zenith angles with experimental data from a special Cherenkov detector equipped with a muon hodoscope.
• The signals from muon-decay electrons and the evolution of the charge with water level are also studied.