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Extraction of the muon signals recorded with the surface detector of the Pierre Auger Observatory using recurrent neural networks

Journal Article · · Journal of Instrumentation
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The Pierre Auger Observatory, at present the largest cosmic-ray observatory ever built, is instrumented with a ground array of 1600 water-Cherenkov detectors, known as the Surface Detector (SD). The SD samples the secondary particle content (mostly photons, electrons, positrons and muons) of extensive air showers initiated by cosmic rays with energies ranging from 1017eV up to more than 1020eV. Measuring the independent contribution of the muon component to the total registered signal is crucial to enhance the capability of the Observatory to estimate the mass of the cosmic rays on an event-by-event basis. However, with the current design of the SD, it is difficult to straightforwardly separate the contributions of muons to the SD time traces from those of photons, electrons and positrons. In this paper, we present a method aimed at extracting the muon component of the time traces registered with each individual detector of the SD using Recurrent Neural Networks. We derive the performances of the method by training the neural network on simulations, in which the muon and the electromagnetic components of the traces are known. We conclude this work showing the performance of this method on experimental data of the Pierre Auger Observatory. We find that our predictions agree with the parameterizations obtained by the AGASA collaboration to describe the lateral distributions of the electromagnetic and muonic components of extensive air showers.

Research Organization:
Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (FNAL), Batavia, IL (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), High Energy Physics (HEP)
Contributing Organization:
The Pierre Auger Collaboration
Grant/Contract Number:
AC02-07CH11359
OSTI ID:
1827111
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 23163786
Report Number(s):
FERMILAB-PUB--21-096-AD-AE-SCD-TD; arXiv:2103.11983; oai:inspirehep.net:1852906
Journal Information:
Journal of Instrumentation, Journal Name: Journal of Instrumentation Journal Issue: 07 Vol. 16; ISSN 1748-0221
Publisher:
Institute of Physics (IOP)Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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The Pierre Auger Cosmic Ray Observatory
  • No authors listed
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Reconstruction of events recorded with the surface detector of the Pierre Auger Observatory journal October 2020
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Measurement of the cosmic-ray energy spectrum above 2.5 × 10 18     eV using the Pierre Auger Observatory journal September 2020
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Azimuthal asymmetry in the risetime of the surface detector signals of the Pierre Auger Observatory journal April 2016
Inferences on mass composition and tests of hadronic interactions from 0.3 to 100 EeV using the water-Cherenkov detectors of the Pierre Auger Observatory journal December 2017
Features of the Energy Spectrum of Cosmic Rays above 2.5 × 10 18     eV Using the Pierre Auger Observatory journal September 2020
Machine learning and the physical sciences journal December 2019
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