A water tank Cherenkov detector for very high-energy astroparticles.

Abstract Extensive airshower detection is an important issue in current astrophysics endeavours. Surface arrays detectors are a common practice since they are easy to handle and have a 100% duty cycle. In this work we present an experimental study of the parameters relevant to the design of a water Cherenkov detector for high-energy airshowers. This detector is conceived as part of the surface array of the Pierre Auger Project, which is expected to be sensitive to ultra high-energy cosmic rays. In this paper we focus our attention in the geometry of the tank and its inner liner material, discussing pulse shapes and charge collections.