Detection of high-energy cosmic-ray showers by atmospheric fluorescence

Thesis/Dissertation · Sun Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1989

OSTI ID:5919842

Halverson, P G

A novel detector for ultra-high energy cosmic rays, and its prototype are discussed. It detects events with primary energy greater than 100 PeV. The detector operates by sensing the near-ultraviolet scintillation light of ionized nitrogen molecules created by the passage of ionizing particles in extensive air showers. Typical events should consist of 1 to 100 EeV primary energy showers, with near-vertical cores, passing through the detector's field-of-view at distances of 1 to 20 km. The optical field of view of the hypothetical detector would be 60 degrees wide by several ({approx}3) degrees high and would look in a near-horizontal direction at a distant mountain range or other suitably dark background roughly 20 km away. A typical good location would be the rim of a canyon, looking slightly downward at the other side. The field-of-view would be subdivided into 3 or more thinner wedges, 60 degrees wide by, perhaps, 1 degree high. A single detector provides timing and brightens information only. Three widely-separated detectors with overlapping fields-of-view provide sufficient data to determine the core location, the zenith and azimuthal angles of the core axis, and the absolutely luminosity of the cascade. Interpretation of the luminosity data would be a challenge, but it should be possible to estimate primary energy from it. The advantage of this new scheme is the enormous effective detector area per relatively low-cost detector module. Each triplet of detectors sees 300 square km with a typical core axis acceptance of roughly 1 sr.

• Research Organization: Arizona Univ., Tucson, AZ (USA)
• OSTI ID: 5919842
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

640101* -- Astrophysics & Cosmology-- Cosmic Radiation
71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
BRIGHTNESS
CONSTRUCTION
COSMIC RADIATION
COSMIC RAY DETECTION
COSMIC SHOWERS
DATA ANALYSIS
DESIGN
DETECTION
ELEMENTS
ENERGY RANGE
EXTENSIVE AIR SHOWERS
IONIZING RADIATIONS
MEASURING INSTRUMENTS
NITROGEN
NONMETALS
OPTICAL PROPERTIES
PERFORMANCE TESTING
PEV RANGE
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
RADIATION DETECTION
RADIATION DETECTORS
RADIATIONS
SCINTILLATIONS
SECONDARY COSMIC RADIATION
SHOWERS
TESTING