The Auger@TA Project: Phase II Progress and Plans

¹ Dept of Physics, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland OH (USA)
² Institute for Cosmic-Ray Research, University of Tokyo, Tokyo (Japan)
³ Dept of Physics, Colorado School of Mines, Golden CO (USA)
⁴ Dept of Physics & Astronomy, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles CA (USA)
⁵ Pierre Auger Observatory, Malargüe (Argentina)
⁶ Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Karlsruhe (Germany)
⁷ Dept of Physics, Sungkyunkwan University, Jang-an-gu, Suwon (Korea)
⁸ Telescope Array Project, Salt Lake City UT (USA)

^* e-mail: auger_spokespersons@fnal.gov Full author list: http://www.auger.org/archive/authors_2018_10.html
^** e-mail: jui@cosmic.utah.edu Full author list: http://www.telescopearray.org/research/collaborators

Published online: 17 May 2019

Abstract

The Auger@TA project is a combined effort involving members of both the Pierre Auger Observatory and the Telescope Array experiment (TA) to cross-calibrate detectors and compare results on air showers detected at one location. We have recently reported results from Phase I of the project, during which we collected and presented data from two Auger water Cherenkov surface detector stations deployed into the TA experiment near the Central Laser Facility. For Phase II, we will deploy a micro-array of six or seven single-PMT Auger surface detector stations co-located with TA scintillator surface detector stations. The Auger micro-array will trigger and collect data independently from the TA allowing for a complete end-to-end comparison of detector data, calibration, and reconstructed event quantities on a shower-by-shower basis between the TA and Auger detector systems. We describe progress towards development of the micro-array for Phase II including the preparation of surface detector water tanks, station electronics, wireless communications, triggers, and data acquisition. We also outline plans for deploying the Auger@TA micro-array into the TA experiment in 2019 with preliminary estimates for coincident air-shower rates.