CORSIKA Simulation of the Telescope Array Surface Detector

The Telescope Array is the largest experiment studying ultra-high energy cosmic rays in the northern hemisphere. The detection area of the experiment consists of an array of 507 surface detectors, and a fluorescence detector divided into three sites at the periphery. The viewing directions of the 38 fluorescence telescopes point over the air space above the surface array. In this paper, we describe a technique that we have developed for simulating the response of the array of surface detectors of the Telescope Array experiment. The two primary components of this method are (a) the generation of a detailed CORSIKA Monte Carlo simulation with all known characteristics of the data, and (b) the validation of the simulation by a direct comparison with the Telescope Array surface detector data. This technique allows us to make a very accurate calculation of the acceptance of the array. We also describe a study of systematic uncertainties in this acceptance calculation.