First buried muon counter prototype for the Auger Observatory
  AMIGA (Auger Muons and Infill for the Ground Array) constitutes an
enhancement for the Pierre Auger Observatory. It consists of a denser array of
surface detectors and muon counters whose objective is both to extend the
detection range down to 10^17 eV and to help towards mass composition
determination. The latter is to be achieved with muon counters since the shower
muon content is one of the best parameter for particle type identification. In
this work, we present the study of a muon counter prototype. The prototype was
buried 3 m deep in an effort to avoid signal contamination from the shower
electromagnetic component. We study the performance of the detector before and
after burying it with its associated electronic components. The detector
validation is performed from signal analysis of charged particles traversing
the counter.
