Title :
The front-end electronics for the Pierre Auger Observatory surface array
Author_Institution :
Phys. Dept., Michigan Technol. Univ., Houghton, MI, USA
fDate :
6/1/2004 12:00:00 AM
Abstract :
The Pierre Auger Observatory will study ultrahigh-energy cosmic rays, reaching full sensitivity for primaries with energies above 1019 eV. The southern hemisphere site observatory is currently under construction. The surface array at this site will contain 1600 water Cherenkov detector stations distributed over 3000 km2. In this paper, the front-end electronics of the surface detector stations, which couple analog signal processing with digital triggering, are described. The environmental constraints, history of the development, and the final design being deployed in the field are discussed. Performance characteristics of the electronics are presented.
Keywords :
Cherenkov counters; astronomical observatories; cosmic ray apparatus; nuclear electronics; primary cosmic rays; programmable logic devices; radiation detection; trigger circuits; Pierre Auger Observatory surface array; analog filters; analog signal processing; digital triggering; enviromental constraints; final design; front-end electronics; history; performance characteristics; primaries; programmable logic devices; southern hemisphere site observatory; surface detector stations; testing; ultrahigh-energy cosmic rays; water Cherenkov detector stations; Batteries; Circuits; Cosmic rays; Data acquisition; Detectors; Mesons; Microcontrollers; Observatories; Physics; Sensor arrays; Analog filters; Cerenkov detectors; cosmic rays; physics; programmable logic devices; testing; triggering;
Journal_Title :
Nuclear Science, IEEE Transactions on
DOI :
10.1109/TNS.2004.828507
