AugerPrime surface detector electronics

• Published in: Journal of instrumentation 2023-10, Vol.18 (10), p.P10016
• Main Authors: Aglietta, M., Allekotte, I., Alvarez-Muñiz, J., Anastasi, G.A., Anchordoqui, L., Araújo Ferreira, P.R., Assiro, R., Bakalova, A., Bartz Mocellin, A., Beatty, J.J., Becker, K.H., Bellido, J.A., Berat, C., Bertaina, M.E., Bismark, K., Blazek, J., Bleve, C., Bonneau Arbeletche, L., Bueno, A., Buscemi, M., Caballero-Mora, K.S., Caccianiga, L., Caruso, R., Cerda, M., Clay, R.W., Correia dos Santos, D., Covault, C.E., Cristinziani, M., Dawson, B.R., de Mello Neto, J.R.T., de Oliveira, J., de Souza, V., Del Popolo, A., Dobre, M., Ebr, J., Erdmann, M., Falcke, H., Farmer, J., Farrar, G., Figueira, J.M., Fitoussi, T., Gemmeke, H., Giaccari, U., Gobbi, F., Gollan, F., González, J.M., Gorgi, A., Guido, E., Hebbeker, T., Hojvat, C., Johnsen, J.A., Jurysek, J., Klages, H.O., Kleifges, M., Knapp, F., Lenok, V., Lopes, L., Lu, L., Mantsch, P., Martins, M.A., Matthiae, G., Medina-Tanco, G., Meinert, J., Michal, S., Mollerach, S., Montanet, F., Morello, C., Mussa, R., Nicora, G., Novotny, V., Oliveira, C., Palatka, M., Pallotta, J., Panja, S., Petrucci, C., Pothast, M., Rautenberg, J., Reginatto Akim, J.V., Reininghaus, M., Risse, M., Ruehl, P., Salamida, F., Salina, G., Sánchez, F., Schimassek, M., Schovánek, P., Schröder, F.G., Sima, O., Sommers, P., Suomijärvi, T., Svozilikova, Z., Timmermans, C., Tobiska, P., Vaclavek, L., Vacula, M., Vásquez-Ramírez, A., Vink, J., Vorobiov, S., Wittkowski, D., Yue, B.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS; Astrophysics; Augers; Cerenkov counters; Data acquisition circuits; Electronics; Front-end electronics for detector readout; Instrumentation and Detectors; INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY; Large detector systems for particle and astroparticle physics; Observatories; Physics; Scintillation counters; Sensitivity enhancement; Surface detectors; Trigger concepts and systems (hardware and software)
• ISSN: 1748-0221; 1748-0221
• DOI: 10.1088/1748-0221/18/10/P10016

Operating since 2004, the Pierre Auger Observatory has led to major advances in our understanding of the ultra-high-energy cosmic rays. The latest findings have revealed new insights that led to the upgrade of the Observatory, with the primary goal of obtaining information on the primary mass of the most energetic cosmic rays on a shower-by-shower basis. In the framework of the upgrade, called AugerPrime, the 1660 water-Cherenkov detectors of the surface array are equipped with plastic scintillators and radio antennas, allowing us to enhance the composition sensitivity. To accommodate new detectors and to increase experimental capabilities, the electronics is also upgraded. This includes better timing with up-to-date GPS receivers, higher sampling frequency, increased dynamic range, and more powerful local processing of the data. In this paper, the design characteristics of the new electronics and the enhanced dynamic range will be described. The manufacturing and test processes will be outlined and the test results will be discussed. The calibration of the SD detector and various performance parameters obtained from the analysis of the first commissioning data will also be presented.