Speaker
Description
The Pierre Auger Observatory is the largest Cosmic Ray (CR) observatory with a size of $\approx$ 3000\,km$^2$. Its size makes it feasible to not only look for CRs but also for presumably rare primaries like photons at energies larger than 1 EeV. Strong upper limits on the photon flux have been set in the past using the Surface Detector (SD). Additionally, air showers with photon-like properties were detected. For these photon candidate events, however, an uncertainty remains regarding whether they are of photon origin or possibly misinterpreted hadrons. With the AugerPrime upgrade, the SD is complemented by the Radio Detector (RD). The combination of both detectors yields new information about air showers and will improve certainty of primary identification. Here, inclined photon showers are of special interest as they have a negligible particle footprint but strong radio emission. This is in contrast to hadronic primaries, where a strong particle footprint is expected for inclined air showers as well.
This talk presents the concept of an RD trigger to detect inclined photon showers. The results of a noise level analysis will be shown and we will quantify the discrimination power of photons and hadrons in simulation studies. We will present an outlook on future prospects of the analysis.
