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arXiv · 2509.18333

Estimation of Temporal Muon Signals in Water-Cherenkov Detectors of the Surface Detector of the Pierre Auger Observatory

Margita Kubátová
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Abstract

The Surface Detector (SD) of the Pierre Auger Observatory is a 3000 km$^2$ array of stations, whose main components are Water-Cherenkov Detectors (WCDs) recording ground-level signals from Extensive Air Showers (EASs) initiated by Ultra-High-Energy Cosmic Rays (UHECRs). Understanding the physics of UHECRs requires knowledge of their mass composition, for which the number of ground muons is a key probe. Isolating the muon component is difficult, as different types of particles contribute to the SD signal. We apply a recurrent neural network to estimate the muon content of the SD signals, showing small bias in simulations and weak dependence on selected hadronic interaction model.

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Margita Kubátová. 2025-09-22. Estimation of Temporal Muon Signals in Water-Cherenkov Detectors of the Surface Detector of the Pierre Auger Observatory. https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.18333

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