Speaker
Description
The Pierre Auger Observatory is an experiment dedicated to the detection of ultra-high-energy cosmic rays (UHECRs), which have energies higher than the limits reached at the most powerful particle accelerators. Such high-energetic particles can be indirectly detected by measuring extensive air showers using several detection techniques. At the Pierre Auger Observatory, a hybrid technique consisting of a water-Cherenkov detector array combined with fluorescence telescopes was used for almost two decades, comprising the Phase I data. The analysis of this dataset led to major advances in our understanding of the nature of UHECRs. For instance, the existence of the suppression in the spectrum with high accuracy was confirmed, although the origin of this suppression remains nonetheless not understood. As there are still open questions that need to be answered, AugerPrime was designed. This is an upgrade of the Observatory, which is underway to produce the new Auger Phase II data. AugerPrime includes the installation of new detectors, capable of measuring the muonic component at ground level, and thus help to disentangle the muonic and electromagnetic components of extensive air showers. These new measurements can provide an estimation of the mass composition of cosmic rays at the highest energies, which will help us better understand spectrum features, the origin of UHECRs, and verify the accuracy of hadronic interaction models. In this presentation, we will provide an overview of the AugerPrime design, its current status, performance and potential capabilities of the upgraded Observatory.
