The Mercedes water Cherenkov detector

Abstract

The concept of a small, single-layer water Cherenkov detector, with three photomultiplier tubes (PMTs), placed at its bottom in a $120^{\circ }$ star configuration (\emph{Mercedes} Water Cherenkov Detector) is presented. The PMTs are placed near the lateral walls of the stations with an adjustable inclination and may be installed inside or outside the water volume. To illustrate the technical viability of this concept and obtain a first-order estimation of its cost, an engineering design was elaborated. The sensitivity of these stations to low energy Extensive Air Shower (EAS) electrons, photons and muons is discussed, both in compact and sparse array configurations. It is shown that the analysis of the intensity and time patterns of the PMT signals, using machine learning techniques, enables the tagging of muons, achieving an excellent gamma/hadron discrimination for TeV showers. This concept minimises the station production and maintenance costs, allowing for a highly flexible and fast installation. Mercedes Water Cherenkov Detectors (WCDs) are thus well-suited for use in high-altitude large gamma-ray observatories covering an extended energy range from the low energies, closing the gap between satellite and ground-based measurements, to very high energy regions, beyond the PeV scale.

8 pages, 11 figures, accepted in Eur.Phys.J.C

References in corpus (3)

• Muon identification in a compact single-layered water Cherenkov detector and gamma/hadron discrimination using Machine Learning techniques
• Characteristics of extensive air showers around the energy threshold for ground-particle-based gamma-ray observatories
• $P_{\gamma h}^{\alpha }$: a new variable for $\gamma /\mathrm{h}$ discrimination in large gamma-ray ground arrays

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• The Potential of Water-Cherenkov Air Shower Arrays for detecting transient sources of high-energy astrophysical neutrinos
• Azimuthal fluctuations and number of muons at the ground in muon-depleted proton air showers at PeV energies
• Enhancing Neutrino Reconstruction in Water-Cherenkov Air Shower Arrays Using Multi-Photosensors
• Future developments in ground-based gamma-ray astronomy