The successful installation, commissioning, and operation of the Pierre Auger Observatory would not have been possible without the strong commitment and effort from the technical and administrative staff in Malargüe. We are very grateful to the following agencies and organizations for financial support: Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica, Fundación Antorchas, Gobierno De La Provincia de Mendoza, Municipalidad de Malargüe, NDM Holdings and Valle Las Leñas, in gratitude for their continuing cooperation over land access, Argentina; the Australian Research Council; Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq), Financiadora de Estudos e Projetos (FINEP), Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de Rio de Janeiro (FAPERJ), São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP) Grants # 2010/07359-6 and # 1999/05404-3, Ministério de Ciência e Tecnologia (MCT), Brazil; MSMT-CR LG13007, 7AMB14AR005, CZ.1.05/2.1.00/03.0058 and the Czech Science Foundation Grant 14-17501S, Czech Republic; Centre de Calcul IN2P3/CNRS, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Conseil Régional Ile-de-France, Département Physique Nucléaire et Corpusculaire (PNC-IN2P3/CNRS), Département Sciences de l'Univers (SDU-INSU/CNRS), Institut Lagrange de Paris, ILP LABEX ANR-10-LABX-63, within the Investissements d'Avenir ProgrammeANR-11-IDEX-0004-02, France; Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (BMBF), Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG), Finanzministerium Baden-Württemberg, Helmholtz Alliance for Astroparticle Physics (HAP), Helmholtz-Gemeinschaft Deutscher Forschungszentren (HGF), Ministerium für Wissenschaft und Forschung, Nordrhein Westfalen, Ministerium für Wissenschaft, Forschung und Kunst, Baden-Württemberg, Germany; Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica (INAF), Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN), Ministero dell'Istruzione, dell'Università e della Ricerca (MIUR), Gran Sasso Center for Astroparticle Physics (CFA), CETEMPS Center of Excellence, Italy; Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología (CONACYT), Mexico; Ministerie van Onderwijs, Cultuur en Wetenschap, Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek (NWO), Stichting voor Fundamenteel Onderzoek der Materie (FOM), Netherlands; National Centre for Research and Development, Grant nos. ERA-NETASPERA/01/11 and ERA-NET-ASPERA/02/11, National Science Centre, Grant nos. 2013/08/M/ST9/00322, and 2013/08/M/ST9/00728 and HARMONIA 5 – 2013/10/M/ST9/00062, Poland; Portuguese national funds and FEDER funds within COMPETE – Programa Operacional Factores de Competitividade through Fundação para a Ciencia e a Tecnologia, Portugal; Romanian Authority for Scientific Research ANCS, CNDI-UEFISCDI partnership projects nos. 20/2012 and nr.194/2012, project nos. 1/ASPERA2/2012 ERA-NET, PN-II-RU-PD-2011-3-0145-17, and PN-II-RU-PD-2011- 3-0062, the Minister of National Education, Programme for research – Space Technology and Advanced Research – STAR, project number 83/2013, Romania; Slovenian Research Agency, Slovenia; Comunidad de Madrid, FEDER funds, Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia, Xunta de Galicia, European Community 7th Framework Program, Grant no. FP7-PEOPLE-2012-IEF-328826, Spain; Science and Technology Facilities Council, United Kingdom; Department of Energy, Contract no. DE-AC02-07CH11359, DE-FR02-04ER41300, DE-FG02-99ER41107 and DE-SC0011689, National Science Foundation, Grant no. 0450696, The Grainger Foundation, USA; NAFOSTED, Vietnam; Marie Curie-IRSES/EPLANET, European Particle Physics Latin American Network, European Union 7th Framework Program, Grant no. PIRSES-2009- GA-246806; and UNESCO.
The Pierre Auger Observatory, located on a vast, high plain in western Argentina, is the world׳s largest cosmic ray observatory. The objectives of the Observatory are to probe the origin and characteristics of cosmic rays above 1017 eV and to study the interactions of these, the most energetic particles observed in nature. The Auger design features an array of 1660 water Cherenkov particle detector stations spread over 3000 km2 overlooked by 24 air fluorescence telescopes. In addition, three high elevation fluorescence telescopes overlook a 23.5 km2, 61-detector infilled array with 750 m spacing. The Observatory has been in successful operation since completion in 2008 and has recorded data from an exposure exceeding 40,000 km2 sr yr. This paper describes the design and performance of the detectors, related subsystems and infrastructure that make up the Observatory.
Comision Nacional de Energia Atomica
Fundacion Antorchas
Gobierno De La Provincia de Mendoza
Municipalidad de Malargue
NDM Holdings and Valle Las Lenas
Australian Research Council
National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq)
Ciencia Tecnologia e Inovacao (FINEP)
Carlos Chagas Filho Foundation for Research Support of the State of Rio de Janeiro (FAPERJ)
Fundacao de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado de Sao Paulo (FAPESP) 2010/07359-6 1999/05404-3
Ministerio de Ciencia e Tecnologia (MCT), Brazil
Ministry of Education, Youth & Sports - Czech Republic LG13007 7AMB14AR005 CZ.1.05/2.1.00/03.0058
Grant Agency of the Czech Republic Czech Republic Government 14-17501S
Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)
Region Ile-de-France
Departement Physique Nucleaire et Corpusculaire PNC-IN2P3/CNRS
Departement Sciences de l'Univers (SDU-INSU/CNRS)
Institut Lagrange de Paris
French National Research Agency (ANR) ANR-11-IDEX-0004-02 ANR-10-LABX-63
Federal Ministry of Education & Research (BMBF)
German Research Foundation (DFG)
Finanzministerium Baden-Wurttemberg
Helmholtz Alliance for Astroparticle Physics (HAP)
Helmholtz Association
Ministerium fur Wissenschaft und Forschung
Nordrhein Westfalen
Ministerium fur Wissenschaft
Forschung und Kunst
Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany
Istituto Nazionale Astrofisica (INAF)
Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN)
Ministry of Education, Universities and Research (MIUR)
Gran Sasso Center for Astroparticle Physics (CFA)
CETEMPS Center of Excellence, Italy
Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnologia (CONACyT)
Ministerie van Onderwijs
Cultuur en Wetenschap
Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO)
FOM (The Netherlands) Netherlands Government
National Centre for Research and Development ERA-NET-ASPERA/01/11 ERA-NET-ASPERA/02/11
National Science Centre, Poland 2013/08/M/ST9/00322 2013/08/M/ST9/00728 HARMONIA 5 - 2013/10/M/ST9/00062
Portuguese national funds
FEDER funds within COMPETE - Programa Operacional Factores de Competitividade through Fundacao para a Ciencia e a Tecnologia, Portugal
Romanian Authority for Scientific Research ANCS
CNDI-UEFISCDI 20/2012 194/2012 1/ASPERA2/2012 ERA-NET PN-II-RU-PD-2011-3-0145-17 PN-II-RU-PD-2011-3-0062
Programme for research - Space Technology and Advanced Research - STAR, Romania 83/2013
Slovenian Research Agency - Slovenia
Comunidad de Madrid Instituto de Salud Carlos III
European Union (EU)
Spanish Government
Xunta de Galicia
European Community, Spain FP7-PEOPLE-2012-IEF-328826
Science & Technology Facilities Council (STFC)
United States Department of Energy (DOE) DE-AC02-07CH11359 DE-FR02-04ER41300 DE-FG02-99ER41107 DE-SC0011689
National Science Foundation (NSF) 0450696
Grainger Foundation, USA
National Foundation for Science & Technology Development (NAFOSTED)
Marie Curie-IRSES/EPLANET
European Particle Physics Latin American Network
European Union (EU) PIRSES-2009-GA-246806
UNESCO