Status of the AugerPrime upgrade of the Pierre Auger Observatory

Abstract

The Pierre Auger Observatory consists of a detector system to study ultrahigh-energy cosmic rays. These cosmic rays can be detected only through the observation of extensive air showers. The hybrid detection of air showers at the Observatory is based on the Surface Detector (SD) – an array of about 1660 water-Cherenkov detectors, and the Fluorescence Detector, with 27 telescopes overlooking the SD. Recently, an upgrade of the Observatory was initiated, called AugerPrime. The main purpose of the upgrade is to improve the mass composition sensitivity of the SD through precise measurements of the muonic and electromagnetic components of extensive air showers. For this purpose, additional scintillator and radio detectors are being installed on top of SD stations. The upgrade also includes updated SD electronics, and underground muon detectors. In this talk, the motivation and the current status of the upgrade will be reviewed.