Measurement of Muon Atmospheric Production Depths with the Pierre Auger Observatory
Résumé
The surface detector array of the Pierre Auger Observatory provides information about the longitudinal development of the hadronic component of extensive air showers in an indirect way. In this contribution we show that it is possible to reconstruct the Muon Production Depth distribution (MPD) using the FADC traces of surface detectors far from the shower core. We characterize the goodness of this reconstruction for zenith angles around 60◦ and different energies of the primary particle. From the MPDs we define X µ max as the depth, along the shower axis, where the number of muons produced reaches a maximum. We explore the potentiality of X µ max as a sensitive parameter to determine the mass composition of cosmic rays.