Measurement of muon production depths using the AugerPrime detectors
| Grant number: | 99/05404-3 |
| Support Opportunities: | Research Projects - Thematic Grants |
| Start date: | May 01, 2000 |
| End date: | May 31, 2007 |
| Field of knowledge: | Physical Sciences and Mathematics - Physics - Elementary Particle Physics and Fields |
| Principal Investigator: | Carlos Ourivio Escobar |
| Grantee: | Carlos Ourivio Escobar |
| Host Institution: | Instituto de Física Gleb Wataghin (IFGW). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil |
| Associated scholarship(s): | 10/04743-0 - Use of multiplets to the study of the galactic magnetic field,
BP.MS 09/08792-8 - Development of data analysis techniques and improvements for the Pierre Auger Observatory, BP.PD |
Abstract
One of the foremost issues in astrophysics today is that of the origin of the most energetic cosmic rays. Eighty years ago in a series of pioneering balloon flights Victor Hess discovered that the earth was bathed in a sea of ionizing "cosmic" radiation. Three decades later Pierre Auger observed showers of secondary particles at ground level produced by energetic cosmic rays interacting high in the atmosphere [2]. Based on the size of these "air showers" Auger concluded that the spectrum of primary particle energies extended up to and perhaps beyond 1015 eV. More recently, in 1962, an air shower event was observed with an energy approaching 1020 eV, one-hundred million times more energetic than the highest energy attained by terrestrial accelerators[3]. Since that time only a handful of similarly energetic events have been detected, the maximum to date reported at 3 x 1020 eV ([4]-[7]). Today substantial progress has been made in understanding the nature of cosmic rays of relatively modest energy (those greater than about 1015 eV). lndeed, our understanding is now such that we are forced to consider the possibility that the highest energy primary particles, those with energies above about 1019 eV, have an entirely different origin than lower energy cosmic rays. Unfortunately, the nature of these remains as enigmatic today as when they were first observed. The failure to solve this puzzle despite three decades of effort stems both from practical and theoretical difficulties.The flux of cosmic rays above 1019 eV is extraordinarily low... (AU)
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