Searching for neutrino signatures with the surface detector array of the Pierre Auger Observatory

The Pierre Auger Observatory has the capability of detecting neutrino induced extensive air showers by searching for very inclined showers with a significant electromagnetic component. Monte Carlo simulations of up- and down-going neutrino showers were performed in order to study the detector response. The detector efficiency for such showers was then studied. In order to discriminate such showers from the background of very inclined hadronic showers, important observables were determined and the identification efficiency was studied. The acceptance and the total observable event rates, based on the assumption of the incoming neutrino flux, were finally calculated